What We Left in the Hallway
by Polkahotness
Summary: Companion to "Please, Take Me with You." Arnold's sophomore Christmas Break brings him back to Hillwood where he reunites with Helga once again for only 5 days. Can they finally figure each other out in such a short time span? AxH and don't forget to R&R!
1. Downtown of Downtown in Salfry

**_I'm back! _**

**_Hope you all enjoy this, it's a companion to my other story "Please, Take Me with You" which I suggest you read before this, and it's only a one-shot so it shouldn't take too long ;) _**

**_Disclaimer: All Craig Bartlett's :) _**

**_Remember to R&R and lemme know if you're excited for what's to come! I'm very excited for this story to get going! _**

**_So without further ado, here is "What We Left in the Hallway"_**

**_xoxo_**

**_Polkahotness_**

* * *

><p>Thinking about it made my head spin.<p>

Well, head spin the way when you stand up really quickly and you have to close your eyes to gain sight back head spin. In all, it wasn't hard to regain composure after the news.

It wasn't like it had surprised me or anything.

"Mrs. Kokoshka, I don't mean to sound accusing or anything... but have you considered the possibility that maybe Oskar got into the drawer and-"

"Of COURSE I've considered the possibility, Arnold. And while I KNOW Oskar would, at the same time, I don't think he would because it was my Mother's... he knew how much it meant to me."

"I know, Mrs. Kokoshka. It was just a suggestion is all."

"Maybe we have a thief here in Sunset Arms." Mr. Potts concluded.

"Yeah! A Thief!" I looked to Mr. Hyunh and narrowed my eyes.

"Guys, I don't think we have a thief," I said as convincingly as I could manage. "maybe the necklace has just been misplaced."

"Misplaced my ass."

"Mr. Potts..."

"All I'm saying is that I highly doubt she MISPLACED the damn necklace. It was around her neck for Christ's sake!"

"He has a point, Arnold."

"Well maybe it fell off."

"Why do you have to be so positive all the time, anyways?" said Mr. Potts with a hard look and a crossing of his arms. I sighed.

"Maybe I should leave you guys be to try and decide what you would like to do about this."

"But Arnold-"

"Awnold..."

"Hey!"

They all called after me as I turned around and shoved my hands in my pockets only to walk down the stairs and to the door leading outside to that of Hillwood.

Not much had changed since I left for college in Daytona beach, Florida. To the city that is- because everybody else had left.

Everyone except for Sid and Stinky however. Those two were here for "life" as they claimed. Iggy had shocked everyone when he left for the cities to "find himself" and from what I'd heard, he had and was actually in a very committed relationship to a girl he'd met at an underground street band. Harold got that football scholarship he'd applied for, and Patty followed him there with a hefty softball scholarship herself. Rhonda was in Italy for an overseas program, Lila was in Montana for an environmental degree she had just heard about a few months before Graduation. Sheena was in Duluth, Minnesota for a musical theatre degree and had met a nice guy down there to help her get over her dwelling crush on Eugene who had recently been cast in the revival for one of his favorite shows in a small theatre near Broadway. It wasn't paying much, but he sounded happy last I'd talked to him, which was all that mattered.

Phoebe and Gerald were still going strong after their last time getting back together, and I heard from Gerald frequently while he stayed in Seattle after transferring from his first choice school early his first semester his Freshman year.

Helga was the only person from our group that I didn't quite know about. I'd tried talking to her once or twice, but she disappeared offline a few moments after I'd logged on.

It seemed as though she didn't wish to talk, which was understandable.

The day I left, I promised to be back the next break I had, which was in a couple of months for Christmas.

And then Christmas came... and I kind of just decided to stay and focus on studying for upcoming finals, just to be sure I did well on all of them. So then I promised to be back that spring for spring break. And when spring break rolled around... well, I decided to stay again. I was simply curious to see what Florida was REALLY like during spring break and not just what the television told me it was like.

By the time I bought my laptop and downloaded my video chat and messenger, it had been almost a whole year since I'd talked to anyone besides Gerald and my Grandparents. Which was when I tried to talk to Helga.

So like I said, I couldn't blame her for not wanting to talk to me.

Looking back, I felt guilty that I hadn't visited since before I left... but I tried to use the technology I had as much as possible since my first year's mistake. I'd finally convinced Grandpa to let Grandma try using the video chat she'd come home with one day, and it had come in handy many-a-time.

But the video chat only showed me their faces and not Hillwood which I had imagined in my head to be and feel completely different. But the crisp air around me didn't feel any different against my skin and the snow beneath me didn't feel any different crunching beneath my feet. The only thing that had felt the slightest bit different was the lack of a certain person in my life.

My flight back to Florida was on the 15th of January, and being as it was the 10th, I had gone much out of my way to see everybody I could while back in Hillwood. Everybody was home, but Helga.

And trust me- I'd asked.

_ "Hi Phoebe!" I ran into her in the middle of the party Rhonda was holding as a mini-reunion on New Year's Eve now that I was back in town. _

_ "Arnold!" She squeaked and ran to me to wrap her arms around my neck in a big hug. _

_Phoebe, as Gerald had warned me, had changed significantly while in Illinois with Helga. While they still saw each other quite a bit, Phoebe had finally broken the 'loyal' attitude and broke out to find an inner confidence we hadn't seen much of before. _

_ "How are you?" _

_ "Oh I am doing quite well, Arnold. School is everything I had dreamed of and so much more. Although, Chemistry is quite a bit harder than I remembered my AP version of it to be." She smiled and touched my shoulder for a moment. "How are YOU? How is Florida? Gerald tells me you are rather fond of it there." _

_ "It's really nice. Very warm, obviously, but very nice." _

_ "And the flying is fun?" _

_ "Well, the LEARNING is fun. I haven't flown anything besides a paper airplane yet." _

_She giggled her usual giggle and nodded while taking her hand back to gently hold her red plastic cup in her small hands. _

_ "Understandable. Well, it's nice to see you, Arnold. Very nice." _

_She turned to return to her previous conversation before she saw me, but I reached out and grabbed her arm. _

_ "Hey, Phoebe, do you mind if we talk for a quick second?" _

_Her facial expression took on another emotion entirely; dread, and I chewed on my lip for a brief moment. _

_ "Well, sure Arnold. I suppose so." _

_We made our way to Rhonda's large kitchen filled with various foods from the Italian culture she had learned from her time in Italy and even more diverse bottles of wine she'd picked up while there. _

_Once we were situated against the counter, I took a deep breath to start talking when Phoebe cut me off before I had even started. _

_ "I don't know anything about Helga, Arnold."_

_ "How did... how do you kno-"_

_ "Arnold... I think it'd be wise to leave that part, a part of your past." _

_ "What part?"_

_ "The part of you that wants to know what she's up to." _

_ "I didn't say that-"_

_ "Arnold... do you see her at the party?" _

_ "Well, no, but it's still early. Don't you think she will show..?"_

_She was shaking her head while focusing on her feet on the marble floor. _

_ "Why?"_

_ "Because she told me, and I quote, 'That part of my life is over now, Pheebs. I should just leave well alone' unquote." _

_ "Her friends...?"_

_ "She talks to us. But she's made a great deal of new friends in Chicago." _

_ "Her family?"_

_ "We both know she wasn't very close with her family. From what she has told me, she hasn't even spoken with them since she left." _

_I scratched my cheek absentmindedly and focused my attention on the floor. _

_ "So... she isn't coming back?" _

_ "No, Arnold. I don't believe she will be." _

_ "But... but you've talked to her, right? She's doing well?" _

_a small smile broke out across Phoebe's face and she nodded minimally. _

_ "Very well. She's picked up a job at a local newspaper. Not quite the job she's looking for, but it will do for now." _

_ "No novels? No poem books yet?" I looked up to meet Phoebe's eyes and she smirked slightly. _

_ "Not yet, no. Though she is working on one." _

_ "About?" _

_She scrunched her eyebrows together and made a 'tsk'ing sound with her tongue. _

_ "You know, I'm not exactly sure. But, I don't doubt that we'll find out sooner or later. Knowing Helga-"_

_ "She'll find a way to get it out there." I finished for her and smiled more to myself than her. _

_ "Precisely." _

_And when the countdown came and we shouted the last few numbers before the new year had offically hit, I looked all around the large room for that familiar face I'd last seen in the Hallway after Graduation without such luck as to finding it amongst the kissing couples and hugging friends. _

All I had found in that room was the strange feeling of disappointment.

Almost the same feeling I was encountering as I walked the streets of my childhood home.

This late in the month, everyone had already head off to resume schooling which left me the sole member from the 'gang' all by myself here in Hillwood.

Or so I had thought.

The snow surrounding the town had reached the point of freezing to a thick ice, and I found myself slipping with each step I took. Every slip on the ice pulled my thoughts back to memories with Gerald and our sleds as we slid down the big hill in the neighborhood. Even forced my memory back to hearing that familiar insult I had become so accustomed to.

_Hey, Football-head! Nice beef! What, you're head too big for you to keep your balance? Sheesh! _

It wasn't long before I had walked far enough away from our neighborhood to where the memories ceased. I looked around to see myself in a neighborhood similar to ours. But when my eyes browsed along the streets, the kids seemed separate from each other. They weren't playing baseball, or football or basketball. They weren't laughing with each other or picking on each other or even TALKING to each other.

I wanted to change their minds. I wanted to yell out and ask, "Why aren't you with each other? Don't you see? One day, you'll look back and realize... realize how EASY it was with each other..."

_Because it's gotten so hard... with everyone. _

My eyes darted around before looking down and focusing on my feet once more. I walked passed the kids and their judgmental eyes.

Up ahead of me was the sign for the bus stop I knew I had to stand and wait by at some point to get home. And while I stood holding the pole the sign was held by, my thoughts drifted to what had brought me this far away from home in the first place.

Boredom? A little. Memories? Yeah. Memories involving that one person I didn't get to see this break? Even I couldn't deny that one. I let out the air I had been suspending in my lungs as the bus rolled up to stop and open it's doors. Tossing some change into the money box for the driver, I made my way to the back of the bus and plopped down, resting my head against the headrest.

Life had changed so entirely since I had left Hillwood in pursuit to fly the skies like my parents once had. I closed my eyes and thought back to those last few weeks in school our senior year. I found myself remembering Helga in that hallway. Telling her what I hadn't told others before. I found myself falling asleep until I opened my eyes to a man in my face.

"Hey kid! Kid! This is the last stop."

Rubbing my temple for a moment I grabbed the armrest and stood up realizing this had happened to me before.

But I had been with Gerald. And now I was alone in a strange town I wasn't familiar with.

While walking off the bus, I quickly turned around and looked at the driver sitting in his chair.

"Uh... sir?"

"Yeah, kid?"

"Just where are we?"

"You're in Salfry."

"And... and how far is that exactly from Hillwood?"

"Eh. Maybe a half hour. Twenty minutes at the least. I think a bus comes here in about two hours for Hillwood if you're willing to wait."

I chewed on my lip for a moment and nodded my head.

"Yeah. I uh... I guess I'll wait. Is there anything to do here?"

The driver put his key in the bus' ignition and turning it on to a loud rumble.

"I don't know, kid. Find a mall or something. I got a job to do and a family to get back to in time for dinner. Good luck."

When the bus had rolled far out of sight, I turned around to look at what surrounded me in the unfamiliar town. Up ahead was a mall and a few shopping outlets surrounding it. Closer to me than that were a few diners, a fast food place and a gas station that was full of anxious people wanting to fill their cars and get moving to wherever they had to be. Sighing and looking around hesitantly for a moment, my feet decided for me to head to the mall up ahead that I had first spotted, as suggested by the bus driver. I quickly made note as to where the bus stop was in relation to the mall, and headed forward a few blocks until reaching the building.

The air was warm inside the mall and the smells of perfume, candles, food joints and people filled my nostrils as I searched for a directory. Sure enough, in the middle of the mall was a big board full of listings of the stores the mall had to offer, and I dragged my index finger down the list of names in hopes that a store would pop out at me. Without such luck, I decided to wander around the mall instead.

The people here were loud. They were rude. It was almost as if a different kind of world from Hillwood, even from Florida. This world was rushed and busier than the one I had remembered growing up in. Coming to think of it however, the people were generally the same, it's just different when you're so young. You find the best in people. And in so many cases you grow out of it.

Unless you're me.

Because as foolish as it may seem, at even age 20 I still saw the absolute best in people, despite what they decided to show me.

Wandering through the mall, I stopped outside a curious outlet named, "College Cabin" written in rustic writing atop the store's doors. And since I had nothing else to do, I figured I might as well take a look around and try and find some things to take back to Florida with me.

The store was filled with silly things to fill a dorm room with. All around were whiteboards for dorm doors, license plates with witty sayings to hang on your walls and merchandise from nearly every college that ever existed. Futons were in boxes ready to be purchased and moved into new college students rooms, and while nobody seemed to be in the store besides myself and the worker at the register, by the looks of the items missing from the shelves the College Cabin seemed to be doing well in the business world.

I picked up a key chain from my college and found "Ray" for my roommate who had been unable to get the money to go anywhere this Christmas break. Though it was small, I thought he might like something for his two keys, both on separate key rings. Making my way to the counter, a collection of CD's caught my eye and making a fast u-turn for them, I ran into someone in the process. Immediately feeling bad for knocking them to the ground, I stumbled around trying to get back up.

"I am so sorry... I wasn't paying any attention to where I was going. See, I'm going back to college in five days and I just-"

"No it's fine, don't worry about it." she mumbled, brushing her shoulder off.

Her eyes met mine and I saw a sense of panic behind them.

"A-A-Arnold?"

I nodded bewildered with my hand still outstretched for her to take.

"You... you need some help up?"

"No... No I'm fine."

"You sure?"  
>"I said I was FINE, Arnold." She stood up and started to pick up all the things she had dropped on the ground.<p>

"You want me to help?"

"Did I ASK for help? Look. Just leave me alone, okay Arnold? That can't be too hard for someone to do, even you."

"But Helga I-"

"No." she set her things on the counter for the cashier to ring up and rung her hands within each other nervously. "Arnold... I just can't. I thought Phoebe told you that."

"You told Phoebe to tell me to leave you alone?"  
>She paused for a moment and nodded her head.<p>

"Yes."

"But why?"  
>"Because you'll never GET it, Arnold. No matter everything we've been through... you JUST. DON'T. GET. IT." She handed the cashier a twenty and grabbed the bag full of her things that she had bought. "I don't need a receipt, and just keep the rest, okay?" She turned around and walked passed me out into the hallway of the mall.<p>

"Helga, wait up!"

"And why?"  
>"Because you're the one person I wanted to see this trip and you just decided to avoid me."<p>

I looked around the area as if everyone had heard me. It felt as if everyone around us knew our past and suddenly knew what I had just said.

Inadvertently I had just admitted to liking Helga G. Pataki.

_Mm mm mm. _I could hear Gerald humming in my head.

Her eyes were wide and she clung to her bag tightly the way she used to clench her fists.

"WHAT did you just say?" she took a step towards me with fire burning behind her eyes.

"I said... I said that I wanted to see you..."

"You said I was the ONLY person you wanted to see-"

"Not the only-" I was trying so hard...

"the ONE person you wanted to see. And this ONE PERSON you wanted to see SAT HERE waiting for you to come BACK-"

"Helga I tried to Skype you but you never wanted to talk-"

"and NOTHING. Not a card, not a fu-"

"you just kept going offline-" we were getting closer to each other when she reached out and grabbed me by my shirt to pull me close to her, our noses mere millimeters apart.

"-cking thing." she finished in a whisper. "I'm complicated. But in all our times, you'd never given up on me." she let go of my shirt and I looked at her with confusion. "Well football-head, I've given up on you. Good luck getting on your bus."

With that, she turned around to walk hastily back to the doors and left, I imagine, to her car to go home and forget about all that happened.

Which wasn't like Helga to simply forget. I'm sure she'd try, but in the end never forget. And I was sure the next time I'd see her, it would be years from now when she was married and had kids and I had been nothing but a complete childish memory.  
>I was sure.<p>

And then the next day, she showed up at my doorstep.

"Hey there, Football-head." she greeted with a lack of expression as she looked at me from the stoop of the boarding house. "You got plans today."

"Hi to you too, Helga. But I don't have plans-"

"Yeah you do. With me. So get ready. We have a long day ahead of us."

* * *

><p><em><strong>So whattya guys think! <strong>_

_**See you at Chapter Two! :)**_


	2. Day One

_**Well Here it is! Sorry it took so long, but I had to get my creative juices a-flowing with some LOVERLY Jim Lang music :) Let me tell you, it is GLORIOUS to listen to his music and secretly imagine that it is playing in the background of what you're writing. haha. **_

**_ANYWAYS, I should probably stop blabbering and let you read this fun chapter. I hope you're liking the story! keep the reviews coming and be sure to let me know what you're thinking of the story! And tell your friends too! _**

_**DISCLAIMAH- The only character that is mine is Ray. Everything else is all Craig Bartlett's and I thank him every day that he came up with this fantastic series :) **_

**_Enjoy! _**

_**xoxo**_

**Polkahotness**

* * *

><p>"What do you mean we have a lot to do?" I asked with a dumbfounded expression plastered on my face.<p>

"What it's ALWAYS meant ya football-headed freak. Now c'mon."

"Who is it Shortman?" I heard Grandpa call from the kitchen and I turned around to grab my jacket and slip it on.

"It's Helga, Grandpa."

"That little friend of yours from Elementary school who had the big crush on yo-"

"Grandpa-"

"-u and you liked her too but you were too afraid to-"

"GRANDPA."

I saw him peek his head out with a grin and a chuckle.

"Have fun..."

I could feel the blush hint in my cheeks and I felt my blood boiling beneath my skin. After closing the door, I faced Helga to see just what her expression was.

She was looking at me with her eyebrow raised and her arms crossed and her weight had shifted to rest on her left hip.

"What was that about?" She asked with a cocky tone.

"Nothing. Don't we have stuff to do?"

* * *

><p>I thought it was an odd idea going out for ice cream with three inches of snow on the ground, but Helga wanted some and I wasn't about to fight the plans I wasn't aware of. It wasn't like I had anything else to do and ice cream always tasted good.<p>

She seemed to like it a lot. I mean, her and Phoebe were always talking about it, so I figured it was a girl thing. Guys never talk about food that passionately.

Sitting at the table, I watched as she ate her Vanilla ice cream cone, chewing on the edge of the waffle cone, letting the ice cream pool at the bottom. She seemed to be thinking about something other than what was happening at this very moment.

"So what made you show up at the boarding house today?"

"We had plans." she took a large bite off the top of the cone and crunched it loudly, her chin resting on the heel of her hand. "Doi."

"But... but you said you never wanted to see me again."

"Nope. Don't remember that."

"You have to. You yelled it out in the middle of the mall. In Salfry."

"Salfry? I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Helga..."

She swallowed the waffle bits she'd been chewing and sighed, defeated.

"Okay FINE. So I yelled at you in a mall in a town. So what."

"So, you seemed pretty mad at me."

"Well I was having a bad day."

"Helga..."

"Don't HELGA me, okay? I just thought that maybe while you're in town, I'd say Hola and give you a few hours of my day before you run off to Florida for another year, or two years, or however long it takes you to fly off to another country and never see me... I... I-I I mean US... again."

I stared at the bowl of ice cream melting in front of me and spun it around with my plastic spoon until the bowl was full of green liquid cream with bits of chocolate sticking out.

"So what are the rest of the plans for today."

"Thought we'd take a fun little trip down memory lane." she tossed the end of the cone in her mouth and licked her finger before tossing her napkin in the trash basket next to us.

"And what do you mean by that?"

"I mean throw that bowl of mush in the trash and lets get moving, bucko, we got a schedule to keep."

So off she lead me, her hand on top of her head to hold her hat in place from the destructive wind threatening to blow it off. I still wondered if that familiar pink bow hid beneath, but I'd never ask. She'd probably beat me to the ground for even mentioning it. One day, I remember in Middle School, she just showed up completely different. It was almost as if she had changed overnight. One day she's in that pink dress she always wore with that pink bow, the next she shows up with some hat on top of her head and form fitting jeans with various baggy t-shirts fitted just enough to see that she had started to develop a... womanly shape. It was about that time that Rhonda too started wearing different clothes, but different in the complete opposite of how Helga changed. Suddenly, Rhonda was wearing short skirts and tight shirts that made it hard NOT to see that she was...er...developing. And of course after Rhonda did it, so did everyone else. Except for Helga. She stayed the same as always; trying to be herself instead of some carbon copy our school had become.

Maybe that was what made her so appealing. She wasn't LIKE them.

"Arnoldo? You doing okay back there?"

I blinked my eyes a few times to see Helga standing on top of the large hill I had so many memories on. The same large hill I had been reminiscing over just yesterday.

"What are we doing here?" I said as I met her at the very top.

"What is it look like we're doing? We're sledding." I looked over as she pointed to two sleds, one blue and one pink. "Obviously the pink one is mine."

I smiled and reached out for the blue one in a circle just like Helga's.

I couldn't remember the last time I had gone sledding. We must have done it up until we all changed in Middle School. The snow days became lazy days and we would remain inside sleeping and watching old re-runs of cartoons we used to obsess over just years before. Weekends became date nights instead of revolving around endless baseball games at Gerald Field that soon became a vacant lot once again.

Its funny how people grow up, but given the chance, they retreat to their childlike ways just as Helga and I were about to do.

"Isn't this pretty dangerous? I mean... we never really thought out what we were doing when we were kids..."

"You a chicken?"

"Huh?"

"A chicken." she crossed her arms and shrugged. "I mean, if you and your stupid football-head of yours is afraid-"  
>"I'm not scared, Helga."<p>

She reached down and picked up the sled while shoving it at my chest.

"Prove it, Arn_oldo_."

I grabbed the blue sled from her and grinned while tossing it on the ground ahead of me directly on a patch of ice.

"You ready?"

Startled, she quickly kicked her sled in place beside mine and jumped on it with her knees directly under her butt. Grabbing a hold of the handles on the pink circular sled, she held on tight until her knuckles were white and slowly started to count down from three.

"3...2..."

"ONE!" We shouted together and we slid down the hill faster than we had as laughing kids years ago.

It was an odd thing to hear Helga laughing. Laughing in fun that is. Towards our last few weeks of school, Helga had changed rather significantly. While we still talked, her ridiculing of me became more and more frequent, yet without the laughter that usually followed her name-calling.

"_It's Helga, man. You can't expect Helga G. Pataki to be the same ALL the time." Gerald said as we walked home from school that May afternoon. My eyes were focused on the cement beneath me and I kicked a rock ahead of us with a sigh, my hands shoved in my pockets. _

"_I know Gerald, but it just doesn't seem like her." _

"_And why do you CARE, Arnold. Honestly." _

"_Gerald, you know why." _

"_I'm not so sure I DO anymore. Let a brother in." _

_I stopped in my tracks and looked directly at Gerald. _

"_It's just that... well I worry about her. I know she isn't really the big bully she acts like." _

"_You do? And why's that?"_

"_I just... I just KNOW, Gerald. And I know something is wrong. She doesn't laugh anymore. It's like she isn't even remotely happy."  
>"So talk to her. Seems logical to me." He said as he started to walk again and I shrugged while following after him. <em>

"_It isn't that easy, Gerald." _

_Up ahead I could see Sunset Arms drawing near and as we reached the stoop, we stopped and sat down on the concrete steps, our backs against the tall hard walls that acted as railings of some sort. _

"_Because-"_

"_You see how she acts around me. She-"_

"_Puts up a front because she LIKES you, man. C'mon. You know it, I know it, the whole damn SCHOOL knows it and then there's YOU." _

_I stared at him startled, my thoughts drifting back to memories of the FTI roof and Helga's words that I had worked hard to forget. The kiss that for some reason, I just couldn't. _

"_I just can't ask her." _

"_Fine. But don't say I didn't tell you so."_

Nearing the bottom of the hill, I could feel my sled spinning around and I opened my eyes to see our sleds about to crash. But we were laughing so hard, we were enjoying this moment so entirely that I didn't care to try and avoid her sled, and she didn't seem to care about colliding with mine. And just before we did, our eyes locked for such a brief moment that I knew exactly how I had felt about Helga even when I didn't know it.

_It's just that... well I worry about her. I know she isn't really the big bully she acts like._

CRASH!

Laughter was quickly lost as our sleds hit and we tumbled out of the circular sleds we had been riding on moments before.

"Ouch!"

"Ung!"

Before we knew what was happening, I was lying on top of her, both of us groaning for a moment in brief pain.

And then we opened our eyes.

Silence.

I looked down at her and stared deep into her eyes for a long moment. Behind them was the same person I had grown to know throughout my entire life. Hard. Strong. Brave and insecure. Lost. In search of just who she was and who she wanted to be.

"Uh..."

She stared up at me in what at first seemed to be happy but quickly faded to embarrassment and finally, the usual of annoyed that I was even in her presence.

"Just what do you think you're DOING, Football-head! Get OFF of me!"

I rolled off of her and sat down on the snow while standing up and offering her my hand.

"I can get up without your help, bucko."

"Right. Sorry, Helga."

"Sorry, schmorry. How about we pack it in and grab some winter delight down at Slausen's?"

* * *

><p>Slausen's wasn't terribly busy as I was afraid it might be. And lucky for us, there were only two people working, so they weren't hovering around us asking if we needed anything.<p>

We sat in our usual booth that we had always sat in since elementary school, except the gang didn't join us this day. Today, it was just Helga and I and as awkward as one might think it would be, it wasn't one bit. I listened intently as she talked about her plans for the future, her ambitions and the new friends she had made. I laughed at the stories she told about her oddball professors and the embarrassing audition she tried to do on a whim for the theatre class she had randomly decided to take. But through it all, I found in Helga a new sense of self and self-worth. She talked nothing of her parents or of her sister, Olga. In fact, the rest of the Pataki family seemed to be the furthest from her mind. She had managed to get loads of generous scholarships from her straight A's all throughout high school and she raved about her internship at the local newspaper and her job as a secretary in the meantime as some receptionist at a massage center. And while it seemed as though it wasn't her thing, she went on and on about her coworkers and how they'd helped her get money to pay off her second rent payment for the apartment she'd rented off campus.

Helga G. Pataki was going out and doing everything she'd secretly wanted with her life.

"So," she said as she took a sip of her hot chocolate, "how about you, Arnoldo? Things working out for you in Florida?" Her mood had changed significantly and I could tell she had wanted to ask about this since she'd first seen me.

"Oh... uh... well you know. It goes."

"Seriously. I wanna know just what it is that made Florida your best option."

"Well." I cleared my throat and adjusted in my seat, the booth suddenly feeling a lot harder than it had five minutes ago. "I'm working on getting my Private Pilot's License now, and from there I need to work and get-"

"No, no, no. I mean your school. How is it? Your classes, your friends, your girlfriend."

Her voice cracked on the last word, and I swallowed the lump that had grown heavy in my throat. I could feel my cheeks turning a bright red and I looked down at my mug of half-full hot chocolate that had started to grow lukewarm at best.

"I uh," I cleared my throat again as it had grown excruciatingly dry. "I don't uh, have a girlfriend, Helga."

Without looking up to catch her reaction, she continued, and I focused on the whipped cream that had melted into the brown liquid.

"So what about your friends? Haven't replaced Tall Hair Boy, have ya?"  
>"Oh no. Gerald and I talk quite a bit still. Whenever we can video chat, even though it tends to be late at night. Otherwise, I guess its okay. I have a pretty cool roommate. His name is Ray. He's pretty quiet though, which makes us get along pretty well. He likes Jazz a lot like I do. We like to mess around on the piano and stuff like that."<p>

"Piano?"  
>"Yeah. We invested in a keyboard this fall, so we make beats a lot and sometimes go down to this little coffee shop we have down the block and we play there every once in a while. We have a nice following."<p>

"I thought you had given up on piano."  
>I shrugged and looked up from my mug to find Helga looking at me intently.<p>

"I dunno. When I found out Ray liked Jazz, I borrowed the keyboard we had in our lounge and he brought out his electric guitar and we just started playing." I smiled at the memory and reached up to rub the back of my neck.

"Would you ever play something here in Hillwood sometime?"

"Oh, I don't know, Helga. It's really not something I think anyone would be interested in hearin-"

"I would be."

I looked at her quizzically and she shrugged.

"I mean, I wouldn't want you out there playing for NO ONE. Least I could do is listen to whatever it is you would play."

I smirked and shook my head.

"Same old Helga."

But she wasn't. And as I waved goodbye to her on my way inside the boarding house, I smiled to myself knowing that even though we'd probably only get one day together during this break, maybe in the future we'd be able to start over as friends and talk on a regular basis.

I decided that night as I lay in bed staring at the sky that peaked through my window on the ceiling, that I would like that. I would like that a lot.

* * *

><p><strong><em>So what do you think? Review and let me know! Hope to see you at chapter three! :)<em>**


	3. Day Two

_**Sorry this chapter is a wee bit short, but as sad to say this as I am, it's more to get to somewhere else. So in essence, while i like it, it is a bit of a filler. haha. But it's good! So don't forget to R&R :) **_

__**_I am SUPER STOKED about the next chapter, I think it is going to definitely be a good one, so stick around and yeah! Enjoy! _**

****_**Disclaimer: Not mine, all Craig Bartlett's. :) **_

__**_xoxo_**

_**Polkahotness**_

* * *

><p>"It was just really weird to actually see Helga. And to see her as her old self. College has really done her well."<p>

"Well good. It's about time Helga got that stick out of her ass."

"Gerald..."  
>"I'm serious, Arnold. And if it's anything I'm surprised about, its that she wanted to see you. After how she acted the end of senior year-"<p>

"Yeah... yeah I know."

Gerald's face was pixelated on the screen and his voice sounded like he was in the end of a tunnel, but on my computer screen was the same Gerald I had been friends with since Urban Tots. The same Gerald with the same attitude.

"Look man, the real question is what are you going to do about it?"

"What do you mean?"

He leaned closer to the built in webcam on his computer and he raised his left brow.

"You gonna see her again?"

"Oh I don't know, Gerald. She saw me all day yesterday. I doubt she'd want to see me again."  
>"Mmhm. And I live with the Keebler elves and help them make their cookies. Come ON, Arnold. You have to."<p>

I rolled my eyes and adjusted the now hot laptop on my lap as I fluffed my pillow behind me with one arm and leaned against it.

"I don't think she... sees me like that anymore."  
>"But do you?"<p>

I glanced over to my shelf and looked at my clock. Beside it was a picture of my parents and next to that was a school picture from fourth grade in Mr. Simmons class. In the corner of the picture, up on the top of the bleachers sat Helga with her pink bow and her 'I don't want to be here' look on her face.

And then there I was in the front row next to Gerald smiling without even realizing what was ahead for me and what that summer would bring for not only the city of Hillwood, but for that 9 year old boy who would try to save it and instead find in himself feelings he hadn't even realized he posessed.

There was that 9 year old boy who would spend the rest of his elementary school career confused and trying to fight what was building up each year we spent together in our classes.

In that front row sat the 9 year old boy who would almost kiss Helga in 9th grade, only to make up some lame excuse and spend the rest of his High School career wondering 'what if?'

I stared at my smiling face and sighed, knowing that that boy was the same boy who evolved into the man I had become, only just as confused and still trying to fight a seemingly hopeless battle against himself.

"Arnold?"

I turned my attention back to Gerald who had been watching me the entire time and shook my head slightly to regain hold on myself.

"Hmm?"

"Do you? Do you still have a thing for miss Helga G. Pataki?"

"I'm..." I took a breath and shrugged, looking at the keyboard in front of me and nodded my head slowly. "Yes. Yes I do, Gerald."

"So what are you waiting for? You still have four days, man."

I chuckled and looked at Gerald as he grinned on the screen.

"Thanks Gerald."

"For what?"

"Just... just thanks." I smiled from ear to ear and Gerald shook his head.

"Mm mm MMM. You've got it bad, bro..."

"I'll talk to you later, Gerald."

"Like REALLY bad."

"Goodbye, Gerald."  
>"Like a swordfish hunting for it's prey, only to find that-"<p>

"LATER, Gerald."

He laughed and waved before the call disconnected and I sat staring at the screen blinking our hour and a half long call time in my face.

I reached over for my phone as it lay on my pillow charging and turned it on to reveal the picture of me sitting on the beach in Florida and sighed.

That 9 year old boy had NO idea what he had gotten himself into.

* * *

><p>"Mind if I come in?" Helga asked as she grinned and crossed her arms while leaning in the doorway.<p>

"Yeah. Come on in." I smiled as she wandered in and rested her arm on the railing.

"Nice place you got here."  
>"Helga... you've been in here before."<br>"Yeah, yeah, yeah, but that was when, in sixth grade?"

I cleared my throat and swallowed for a moment.  
>"N-ninth grade, Helga."<p>

She pushed herself off the railing and snapped her fingers.

"Oh yeah! It was for that end of the year party you and Geraldo were planning for EVER and Rhonda was all mad but then shut her trap when we started that fire up on your roof."

I nodded.

_You're leaving one part out, Helga. The part where you stayed long behind and talked with me for an hour around the bonfire about absolutely nothing and we had scooted so close to one another in search for more heat that when I leaned in to kiss you but soon pulled away, it was easy to make up an excuse for my actions. Though I hadn't wanted to. _

"You throw a good party, Hair Boy. I'll give you that."

"So are you doing anything?"

"Well I'm standing here. What more do you want?"  
>I laughed.<p>

"You can pick."

"Oh no, football-head. It's YOUR turn. And besides, you called ME. Remember?" She stalked off to the kitchen and I followed her in, completely oblivious to just who would be in there.  
>"Five Dollah! You owe me five dollah!"<p>

"Says who, Hyunh?"

"Says me!"

Mr. Potts glared at Oskar and crossed his arms; Mr. Hyunh dropping his arms from the air to his sides.

"Stay out of this Kokoshka. Nobody wants to hear how much you owe everyone here."

Helga stood watching them fight about everything and nothing as I watched behind her while chewing my lip.

"Ernie..." Mr. Hyunh said as he pointed in Helga's direction.

"Little girl," Mr. Potts started, "are you looking for someone?"

I poked my head out from behind her and waved.

"Awnold!" Mr. Hyunh called and I took a step in front of Helga.

"This is Helga. You guys remember her, right?"  
>"Oh sure we remember HELGA, Arnold." Mr. Potts said with a smirk hinting at his face.<p>

"Hiya boys, what's shaking?" She beamed.

"Shaking?" Oskar asked. "What's shaking?"

"Its an expression, Oskar." I explained while Helga made her way to the fridge.

"I take it you have grub in this joint, right football-head?"

I blushed as all the heads in the kitchen turned to look my way and I rubbed the back of my neck.

"Yes. In the fridge." I mumbled and moved further in the room; pulling out the chair and siting down to watch whatever was going to unfold before my eyes.

Helga pulled out a large salami littered with teeth marks and scrunched her face together.

"Really?"  
>"How did that get in there?" Oskar laughed and reached for the salami.<p>

"How did it get in there? It's FOOD. Food goes in the FRIDGE, Kokoshka."

"That is if you have an IQ two points above a primate." Helga quickly spit out and the boarders turned to laugh at her wit. I perked up in my seat a bit.

"Hey, that's pretty good." Mr. Potts complimented as Helga pulled out a hoagie and took a large bite.

"Don't sweat it. That one's on the house for ya." She grinned and glanced my way, nudging her head in the direction of the living room. "You coming or not?" And as nonchalantly as she wandered in, she wandered back out in search for the television.

"Wow Arnold, she sure has changed, huh?"

"Yeah, Ernie, she really has."

"I like her." Mr. Hyunh simply said before leaving the room as well to head up to his own.

"Thank you Mr. Hyunh. And Oskar, you really should stop taking huge bites out of the boarding house food. I know Grandpa told you about that the other day too, in fact, he's kind of been doing it for years..."

With his usual laugh he ran off, sausage in hand, leaving me to make my way to meet Helga as she lay comfortably on the couch, remote in hand.

"Hoagie?" She offered and I gave her a look.  
>"You want to share your sandwhich?"<br>"Well why not? Not like you got cooties or anything, right Hair Boy?" she winked my way and I shook my head while focusing on the television as she flipped through the channels almost too fast to see what was even on.

To this day I don't know why I said what I said. It came out on its own terms and the moment I said it, I knew I was in for more than I expected. But I did it anyways, and the rest, well, is history.

"You wanna head up to my room or something?"

* * *

><p>From as far back as I can remember, I'm pretty sure Helga hadn't ever stayed for a long period of time in my room. There had been weird... coincidences that I cared not to think too deeply about, but other than that, she had only been in there for (what I thought) were brief periods of time. However, the way she walked around my room made me feel that she was familiar with it.<p>

Did it bother me?

No.

Was it a little strange?

Yeah. You could say that.

_A little? Man, it is down right CREEPY. _I could hear Gerald throw in his two cents in my head, and I focused on tuning his 'little voice' out as I made my way to my bed to sit on it.

"So, what do you think?"

"About?"

I nodded my head downward trying to signal about the boarders, and she picked up on it right away, soon sitting down beside me.

"They're a bunch of characters. I can't believe you used to spend every day with them. Doesn't it get tiring?"

I shrugged and lean back to lay on my bed with my legs dangling over the side. I focused my attention on the sky through my window and smiled.

"They're good people. As weird and as messed up as they may seem, they're all really great and they have been my family all my life. You don't really get to choose, but in a way I kind of did. And I'm glad I chose them."

I heard Helga sigh and lay back with me, her arms cushioning under her head as a makeshift pillow as she too focused on the clear blue sky ahead.

"You're lucky, Arnold."

I turned my head to look over to her and she remained staring ahead, concentrating.

"I am?"

"They're weird, I'll give you that, but they care about you and they love you. You're lucky."

Instantly I knew where this was headed.

"Helga, I'm sure that your parents love you."

"Oh sure. They do in that instinctual respect or whatever, but they don't REALLY care. They just HAVE to."

I remained silent for a moment unsure of what to say. Luckily, Helga filled the silence in.

"Do you ever miss living here? In Hillwood?"

"Every day. I miss the people. When I was walking around the other day and managed to get in Salfry, I realized that it hadn't been HILLWOOD I missed. I always thought it was, but it was everyone here. And when I was walking around while no one was still here on break, I just realized that the city itself is just some city. But the people here..." I shrugged at a loss for words and Helga slowly nodded her head.

"I know. Chicago is nice and all that jazz, but here is...well home. Criminy, I sound like some sap."

"No, no. You're right. Hillwood has our memories and our families."

"Most of ours."

I sat up slightly and rested my chin on the heel of my hand as I faced her.

"You really don't like them,do you?"

"Who?"  
>"Your family."<p>

She grew silent and chewed on her lip for a moment deciding if she wanted to answer.

"Buzz off." she finally decided on, and turned her head away from mine.

Boldly, I reached out and turned her face back to look at me.

"Helga..."

Her eyes searched mine for a moment and I watched as internally, she gave up trying to be hard and cold.

Sighing, she replied.

"I don't hate them. I just wish they'd pay attention, that's all."

Her eyes shone for moment, I watched as they welled up with water before she forced her gaze to turn opposite of me and I sat up completely, still facing her.

"You don't have to be ashamed that that is how you feel, Helga."

"Yes I do."

"But why?"  
>"Take a hint. Buzz. Off."<p>

"Helga why won't you just tell me?"

"Because I don't WANT to, bucko."

"But why?"  
>"BECAUSE YOU'LL LAUGH AT ME."<p>

She had turned her head and sat up to stare at me a few inches away from my face; her neck's veins popping and her breath huffing with rage.

She instantly drew back and folded her hands in her lap while her attention focused down on them.

"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10..."

"What are you doing?" I asked cautiously.

"Counting. Doi."

"Why?"

"Dr. Bliss always told me to count. When I still saw her and all that."

I nodded my head.

Since Dr. Bliss had come to our school and asked Helga to see her twice a week, they had become really close. In sixth grade however, she was devastated when Dr. Bliss had to start charging for her services and her dad had too much pride to pay for them.

The news spread like wildfire despite Helga's efforts to change the story. I remember the next week was when us silly 12 year olds forgot about it and since then, I hadn't heard a word about Dr. Bliss.

Until now.

"Was that rumor true?" I blurted out, soon finding myself regretting such a move.

Surprisingly, she answered without hesitation.

"Yep."

"About Dr. Bliss in sixth grade?"

"Yep."

I stared at my carpet trying desperately to make my mind stop spinning with silly and pointless questions that would only tick Helga off. The patterns on the carpet occupied my eyes and made my mind go momentarily blank.

The silence between us grew longer, but luckily not any more uncomfortable. Oddly enough, I didn't feel awkward at all sitting and thinking. Helga and I were both clearly in different worlds thinking about different things. And while I couldn't speak for Helga, I definitely knew where my train of thought had been drifting towards.

"Helga, before I left for Florida there was something I asked you and I would really like some kind of answ-"

"Look Arnoldo, this had been fun but I should be heading out." She quickly hopped to her feet and bolted towards the door without letting me get close to finishing my statement.

"But Helga-"

"I'll seeya later football-head." She saluted my way and ran down the ladder to the front door and closed the door hard to let me know her presence had 'left the building.'

Apparently, Helga knew where my train of thought had been drifting towards too.

This only meant one thing...

I would DEFINITELY need to see her again.


	4. Day Three

_**I'm baaaaaaaaaaack :) Again. **_

_**So my computer busted and I don't know when I'll be getting another one... needless to say, I hope it will be soon, but until then, I have my old crappy cracked screen one just to get me by. **_

_**Super excited about this chapter. I think it turned out a LOT better than expected. So make sure to R&R and let me know what you guys think! **_

_**As always, Disclaimer: All belongs to Craig Bartlett :) **_

**_enjoy! _**

**_xoxo_**

**_Polkahotness_**

* * *

><p><em>She stood quietly in the gymnasium as she looked down at the sea of black graduation caps that littered the freshly polished wood floor. I silently stepped up behind her and unzipped my gown enough to feel comfortable for once since the graduation ceremony started two hours ago. <em>

_It was over. _

_But it didn't have to be. _

_She kicked a cap that lay in front of her and sighed. Her parents hadn't even bothered to show up. _

_I had looked. And I wasn't a fool to not notice that she had been looking too. _

"_Helga?" _

_She spun around; her gown twirling with her. _

"_What do you WANT football-head?" _

_I shrugged my shoulders while taking a few steps towards her only to sit down on a chair nearby. _

"_Just thought I'd say hi." _

"_No. You thought I needed company because my _parents _didn't show up. Well BUCKO, I don't _need _your sick sympathy. I'm just peachy." _

"_I doubt it." _

"_Well DON'T. Don't act like you KNOW me because you just DON'T."_

"_Helga, I'm not saying that I know you, I just thought-"_

"_CRIMINY! You don't take a hint do you? You haven't taken a hint since that dumb assembly have you? LEAVE ME ALONE." _

"_No." I stated simply. _

_She shot me a look of disbelief.  
>"And just why not?" <em>

"_Because, despite what you think, I'm not completely dense." _

_Her stature shrunk slightly and for as fast as my heart was beating, I never once backed down. I kept my eyes locked on her as she slowly made her way over to me sitting in the chair._

"_Excuse me?"_

"_You know what I'm talking about, Helga." _

_Faster. Faster. Fastest. My heart was pounding in my chest.  
>I was guessing. I was taking Gerald's crazy theory and putting it into the real world just to see how 'right' he was. <em>

_And I was fearing the worst. Because before my eyes, I was seeing just how 'right' he had been. _

_Helga's eyes dance around as she struggled for a response to my accusation. _

"_I don't... You... It isn't like you GET what you're... Psh. No. You know NOTHING." _

_I crossed my arms smugly. _

"_I think I do." _

"_Wh-Which is?"_

_I stood up from the chair and took a few steps towards Helga until we were a few feet away from each other. _

"_Before Spring Break. The hallway. Remember when I told you about flight school?" _

_She shrugged nonchalantly. _

"_Yeah. So what?"_

"_So, ever since then... you've treated me like-"_

"_Shit. You can say it, Arn_oldo_. I've treated you like shit." _

"_Uh... okay. Wh-Why?"  
>"Piss off." <em>

"_Helga..."_

"_I mean it. You don't need to know why I do what I do. Just DEAL with it. And you won't have to for much longer, so just suck it up, Hair Boy." _

_Turning around, she made her way to the gym doors with a fast pace, and I ran after her just a beat behind. _

"_HELGA!" _

"_What?" She yelled back without turning or stopping to speak to me. _

"_Helga, WAIT!"_

"_NO!" _

"_HELGA!" I stopped running and panted as I continued to call out after her. "Helga, why me?" _

_Her pace slowed as her steps grew shorter until they too, stopped completely. _

_She didn't answer. _

_Without moving, I continued speaking; my words echoing in the hallway as we stood alone. _

"_Why did you choose me? Out of everyone else here... out of all the people you COULD have... picked on... why me?" _

_I was speaking in code. Helga wasn't dumb. She had some of the best grades the high school had seen. So I knew she was aware as to what I was talking about. _

_Silence. My echo was the only response. _

"_Helga," _

"_What." She muttered just loud enough for my ears to catch. _

"_Helga, why did you choose me?" I asked in a small voice. _

_I watched as she shook her head; her footsteps soon picking up again into a sprint before she was completely out of sight, leaving me and my question alone in the hallway. _

I fluttered my eyes open and yawned as I rubbed my eyes hard; little fireworks exploding behind my lids.

Ever since graduation, I hadn't been able to shake that memory. Often times, I'd wake up in the middle of the night to look over to Ray in his dorm bed next to mine and realize I wasn't in Hillwood.

But this time, I was in Hillwood. It had only been a dream of a memory I had longed to forget. Or rather, put an ending to.

I sat up in my bed and stared ahead at the steps that led up to the roof.

Counting today, I had three days left in Hillwood before my plane took off for Florida yet again. Three days to get the answer I had so desperately searched for since graduation.

I glanced over to my clock to see the numbers 9:37 am looking back at me. Helga and I had gotten pretty into it the day before, and I sighed unsure as to what I was supposed to do for her forgiveness.

And maybe it had never come.

But I didn't think that. I focused on making it happen.

I had to.

I tossed the covers off of me and stood up from my bed to rub the back of my neck and head for my duffel bag I had brought from Daytona. Digging through the neatly packed clothes I had proudly folded all by myself the morning of my departure in my dorm room, I pulled out a shirt and some jeans and yawned once more.

Today would be a long day.

* * *

><p>It was warmer than expected at Noon in January, and I found it nice enough to wear just my windbreaker and some thin gloves. Hillwood had always been a great place for a walk. I found the walk around the blocks to be fun and the familiar faces in the shops comforting. It was nice to see the city thrive after all it had been through.<p>

Though I had to admit, some things had definitely changed.

Much to my dismay, new outlets had sprouted and put other small shops out of business, but that was to be expected in a growing city with a growing population.

However, for the most part Hillwood had remained almost the same as it's old self, and I smiled at the thought that it would stay like this for years and generations to come.

I made my way to the park and sat on the first bench I saw.

The people walking by must have found it warm too, as I wasn't the only person dressed in as little as I was in. Some people were in even less. Some power walked passed me in cropped pants and t-shirts, others jogged passed me in sweatpants and t-shirts, but the one that got me was the girl in tight shorts that were MUCH too short to wear in public (I thought), and a tank top that barely covered her stomach.

Now, I'm not necessarily comPLAINing, because after all, I am a guy and a guy my age is still pretty overruled with hormones, so naturally I may or may not have looked her over and come to the conclusion that indeed, it was appropriate clothing for such weather. Especially for a girl like her.

She ran passed and I watched as her steps stomped passed me on the pathway. There was something about the way she ran that reminded me of something, or someone that I had known.

And as my eyes made their way up from her feet, I realized just why it had seemed so familiar.

I swallowed hard for a moment before jumping to my feet and taking off after her.

"HELGA! Hey Helga!" I called out, waving my hand like an idiot in front of me.

Her steps gradually came to a stop, and breathing heavily, she turned around with a nod of her head in my direction.

"Hey...there...Arnold...o... What's... What's cracking?" She panted and I suddenly found that I had no idea as to what I was going to say next.

"Just uh... just going for a walk."

"While... sitting... on a... bench?" She smirked, her right hand resting on her hip as she waved for me to follow her once she started walking at a slow pace.

I chuckled and blushed slightly as I followed beside her, my mouth at a loss for words.

"So Helga, about last night..."

"Don't sweat it. It's fine." she focused ahead at where the path was taking us.

"Are you sure? I shouldn't have pushed you for-"

"Hey Arnold?" She cut me off and I turned my head to look at her only to realize she had stopped walking completely.

"Yea?"

"You busy today?"

* * *

><p>We opted to go catch a movie, and while the plot was 'sketchy' as Helga put it, it turned out to be pretty decent and fairly worth the arm and a leg it cost just for a ticket.<p>

Hillwood sure had raised their prices since our childhood.

And of course after the movie, Helga invited me to catch some pizza and reruns at her place.

I didn't realize that 'her place' meant the hotel room she had rented a few blocks away from the mall to stay at while in town.

"Yeah," she continued as she slid the plastic key through the scanner and waited for the blinking green light to signal her entry to the room. "Pheebs came over and thought it pretty stupid of me to rent a room when I have a house down the road."

"Well, I can understand why." I said while closing the door behind me and looking around and the fairly big room they had provided.

"See, I can't." she countered as she made her way into the bathroom and closed the door while she changed and I 'made myself at home.' "I don't really have a home to go back to after what happened."

"And just what was that?"

She opened the door and turned off the light, now in sweatpants and a baggy t-shirt, her hair swiftly being tied up in a loose ponytail.

"When I got all my scholarships for college, Miriam through some big bullshit fit about how I was 'throwing my life away' though I'm still pretty sure she was just agreeing with the cock and bull story Bob made up in his mind about my 'life choices' versus what _Ol_ga had chose to do with her life."

"What do you mean?"

She sat down next to me on the bed and crossed her legs pretzel style, her hand folded in her lap.

"I mean that once he found out I was going for writing and not whatever it is HE wanted me to do, he practically said he disowned me and that I was making a stupid life choice and when I was broke, he wouldn't give me any help because it would have been all my fault." She shrugged it off.

"Is that why..." my voice trailed off, unsure if I should ask what was on my mind.

But it was too late. I had already started.

"Why what?" Her voice had transitioned to one of a serious tone, one that I rarely had the chance to hear.

"Why... they didn't show up for graduation." I stated more than asked.

I kept my gaze on her as her eyes focused downwards on her hands. She picked at her nails for a moment before nodding her head slowly.

"Yeah. When I got home, Miriam was passed out behind the couch as usual, and Bob was sleeping on the recliner with a bag of Cheezy O's in his lap and the cheese dust all over his fat fingers."

They hadn't even made the effort.

I remember that morning, Grandpa put on his 'nice church pants' and grandma did her hair into a french twist and she donned her cleanest green dress with the biggest of grins. The rest of the boarders dressed up too, and as a group (but more of a cheering squad), they all climbed in the Packard and sat in the stands cheering when I walked up for my diploma. The rest of the night was full of fireworks, food and the greatest celebration to be had at Sunset Arms in it's history.

But Helga's family, her BLOOD RELATIVES hadn't even TRIED.

The feeling of that knowledge made me sick.

"So. Enough of this moping crapola. How about some grub? You game, Hair Boy?" She twisted her torso to look, my way with her eyebrow raised, which was when I realized her usual unibrow that she had been picked on since as far back as I could remember, had been freshly shaped into that of two individual thin brows that complimented her face pretty nicely. It took a moment for me to snap out of staring at her face before I answered.

"Uh... yeah. Uh- that'd be nice." I smiled softly and blushed as I turned to look at the blanket; examining it's every loose stitch and laughable pattern and color choice.

Helga chuckled and made her way to her phone that had been plugged into the wall to charge.

As she dialed the number of the local pizza place we had the number memorized for since middle school, my mind took flight to the questions roaming in the corners of my head.

_That party... why stay so late?_

_Graduation... why avoid my question? _

_Us... where did we stand? _

Helga tossed her phone back on the dresser it had been laying on and reached over to press the power button on the bulky television set; it taking a few moments to turn on before the picture sprung to life on the screen.

"They said twenty minutes-"

"Helga, I have to ask-"

"-which I mean, is as usual the amount of time it takes-" she continued

"-why was it that when we were in the hallway at graduation-" I kept going.

"-to make a flippin'-"

"-Helga..."

"-pizz-" she wasn't looking at me now.

"Helga why wouldn't you answer my question?"

"-a..."

She immediately stopped talking. I could feel the weight of the silence settle on top of my shoulders and at that instance, I knew this could go either one of two ways.

She could kick me out of the room and avoid the question entirely... again.

Or, she could tell me the way I'd imagined so many times since I first asked.

I watched as she turned away from me further and stared out towards the opposite wall. She seemed to be focusing hard on the curling of the wallpaper and the mild dancing of the curtains from the heater just below.

"I..." she sighed, defeated. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Though the statement was hard and unmoving, her voices tone told another story entirely.

She was ready.

Something at college had changed her, and while so much of me wanted to know the answer to my question from a year and a half ago, there was that one part of me that liked it as a well-kept secret that I would never attain. Part of me was afraid what would happen when it was all out there.

What if Gerald had always been right?

Who was I kidding, he was ALWAYS right.

But up until now, I was never really sure. The confession Helga gave so long ago on the roof of the FTI building had been brushed off as "heat of the moment" I had no solid proof of what apparently everyone had been so aware of.

Despite how ready I imagined myself to be or how ill prepared I actually was, the time for knowledge was now.

And that knowledge, was enough to stop time for me. Stop it so long that the moment between her words and my reply took ages.

"You know what I'm talking about."

"And so what if I do?"  
>"Can't we, for one moment, skip this part?"<p>

She turned her head just enough for me to hear her more clearly.

"What part, Arnold?"

I stood up and walked to squat in front of her and look directly at her as she sat on the bed.

"The part where you fight me until you tell me just enough to get both our minds turning and then shut yourself up until the next time we do this. Why not just tell me everything now? Why don't you just let me in?"  
>"Because... because I CAN'T, Arnold. I just can't. I told myself this part of my life was over and-"<p>

"But WHY, Helga. WHY does it have to be over?"

"Because it just DOES. I can't keep going on loving you knowing you'll never love me back..."

Her voice had begun to trail off. I didn't let the silence take over again. I wouldn't.

"You never gave me a CHANCE to love you."

Her gaze shot over to me as I looked up to her from my position on the floor.

"I didn't think... you..."

"Why was it me, Helga. Just tell me. Why did you choose me."

"I didn't."

"You had to."

"But I DIDN'T. Okay? You chose me."

I rolled off the balls of my feet to sit on the floor completely.

"I did?"

Helga rolled her eyes around in her head and moved to sit beside me on the floor.

"You don't remember do you?"  
>I shook my head.<p>

The next hour was full of pepperoni pizza, two liters of Yahoo soda and all the things I never knew. Full of Helga, for once, telling me the things that she had never shared before to anyone (besides Dr. Bliss and Phoebe I imagine) else. And despite it all, I was fascinated. I couldn't imagine that all the things I had done could impact someone's life.

"So now you know."

I couldn't help but laugh.

"What? What could possibly be funny, bucko?"

"I just... I always thought you hated me."

"Well I couldn't tell you! Doi!"

"And why not?" I turned to look at her with an eyebrow raised and I could see the blush creep onto her cheeks.

"Shut up." She nudged me and I laughed while playfully nudging her back.

"You know I'm right."

"Well you aren't, football-head."

"And why's that?"

"What's with the questions? I want to ask some questions too. Criminy."

"So ask me."

I crossed my arms across my chest and grinned; waiting.

She furrowed her brows together in concentration as if searching for a question, though we both knew that she only had to choose one of the many she'd longed to ask.

"Why did you want to know so dang bad?"

"Gerald." I replied instantly.

"Tall Hair Boy? Why him? You didn't just want to know?" Her expression drooped slightly in disappointment and I shook my head quickly.

"No, no, not just because of him. He was more... what made me keep thinking about it. Or... pursue it I guess."

"Pursue it?" She turned to face me as I turned to do the same and face her.

"Well, yeah. After I told him what happened on the roof-"

"You told him?"

"And you didn't tell Phoebe?"

"Touche, Arn_oldo. _Go on."

"Anyways, after I told him, he never let it go. And since you clearly wanted to, I really tried to forget all that had happened. But Gerald kept telling me to ask you."

"Ask me what?"

I looked down to my hands resting in my lap.

"Ask you if what you said was really true."

"Well of course it was."

"But you said it was in the-"  
>"Heat of the moment. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it OBVIOUSLY wasn't. You really didn't GET that?"<br>"You said it was though."

"And you believe everything you hear? That's gonna get you into trouble one day."

"Hasn't it already?"

I looked up to her to find her looking at me directly.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean... If I hadn't believed you, then... maybe things would be different now."

I swallowed a hard lump growing in my throat and I felt my cheeks instantly heat up.

"You mean...?"

Not much more had to be said.

"We have two more days, Helga."

"Hmm?"

"Two more days until we both go back to the airport and back on planes to go back to our lives on other sides of the country."

I caught Helga's glance dart over to the clock as it's red hue glowed a bright 9:29 pm.

"And?"

"And... what are we going to do?"

The sounds of footsteps passed by the hotel room in search for something, followed by muffled voices and a kid yelling downstairs for his mom. All the while, my attention remained locked on Helga.

"I don't know, Arnold."

I felt my phone buzz for a seventh time in my pocket since I got to the hotel and I dug my phone out to see four separate text messages from Gerald.

"I'd... better get going."

"Right. Thanks for hanging out here today. I mean... I had plenty of BETTER things to do and all, but-"  
>"Helga..." I said as we made our way to the door of her hotel room, "you don't have to do that anymore."<p>

She blushed.

"Uh... right. Force of habit." Helga opened the door and held it as I entered the hallway.

"You want to do something tomorrow?"

Shrugging her shoulders, she leaned against the door with the side of her forearm and crossed her right leg over her left.

"If you insist."

I leaned in before I lost my nerve and gently pressed my lips against hers for a prolonged moment.

"I do."

Shoving my hands in my pockets, I turned to leave a jaw-dropped Helga and call Gerald.

Needless to say, I had a long 'I told you so' lecture ahead of me to listen to tonight.


	5. Day Four

_**Here we go! I love this chapter, and I enjoy how I wrote some stuff here and there. I am off to work now, so let me know what you guys think! **_

__**_R&R! And remember, Hey Arnold! belongs to Craig Bartlett and not me. _**

****_**xoxo**_

**_Polkahotness_**

* * *

><p>"Hey. Remember that time you told me you kissed Helga in her hotel room when she came back from Chicago during Christmas break this year?"<p>

"Gerald. That was just last night."

"Mmmmhm. That's what I thought."

"What did it have to do with anything?"

"Nothing. Just wanted to continue reminding you how RIGHT I was and how WRONG you were."

I laughed as I looked through my high school yearbook from Senior Year and shook my head to myself.

"Man, what are you looking at?"

"Yearbook."

"Why?"  
>"I wanted to see what Helga wrote."<p>

Gerald let out a loud laugh as he sat on his dorm bed, his hair less than perfect to it's usual standards since he had just woken up.

"What?"

"Oh nothing. Just that it was probably the same thing she wrote every year."

"Doubt it. I bet it was a little meaner."

"So did you ever find out just why she was so mean to you all this time? You didn't give me a lot of details last night..."

"Because we aren't ten year old girls or Rhonda."

"But we are best friends, aren't we? And I _have _been here with you through ALL of Miss Helga G. Pataki's bullshit since pre-k, haven't I?"

"Yeah..."

"Which means I get to know everything. Case closed."

I shook my head and laughed out loud as I looked up from the yearbook to look at him through my web-cam in my computer.

"Okay Gerald. What do you want to know?"

"I asked you last night."

"Gerald..."

"Yeah, yeah." He reached over to grab a Cheeto from his dresser beside his bed. Him and his roommate were currently in a food battle of 'epic proportions' as Gerald stated it. While his roommate Jason was bound and determined to drink all of Gerald's Yahoo and sports drinks, Gerald was determined to eat all of his snack foods that lay around 'unsuspecting in their bags' for him to crunch on.

He devoted an entire two-hour long rant during one of our Skpe chats to explain it all to me.

"Why was she so mean to you?"

"Something about hiding her feelings I think."

"Mm mm mmm. That Helga."

"Yes?"

"She is just so strange, man. I don't get what you see in her."

"Clearly not what you see."

"So just what is it?"

I stopped for a moment and looked down at the page I had been on in the yearbook. Our yearbook editors (none other than Eugene and Sheena themselves) had come up with a lot of ideas our senior year and decided to take up entire pages just for the seniors. Naturally, there was the Senior Hall of Fame to which Gerald won Most Athletic, Eugene and Sheena were most likely to become famous, Lila and I won Best Personality (to which Helga complained for the rest of the year about for our classmates' "inability to judge a book accurately despite what is on it's lackluster and superficial cover," whatever she meant by that I never knew) and a few other people nobody was quite surprised at. Next to the Hall of Fame, and right in front of my eyes now, was our Now and Then section; an idea that Rhonda had claimed she thought of, but everyone else swore was a group effort. In one column lay pictures from baby play-dates and up until middle school awkward pictures full of braces and acne. The column beside it were pictures of those people now in the same spots and poses they had been years before in the picture. On the bottom in the right-hand corner, was a picture I remembered taking for Mr. Simmons for his "Parents Newsletter" he handed out once a month. In the picture, I sat on a tire swing, Gerald was behind me on it, and Helga was behind him. I remembered looking at the picture when Eugene and Sheena asked us to recreate it and laughing at the memory of Mr. Simmons begging Helga to stop making faces behind me and ruining the picture with her antics. This picture, Helga succeeded, and it made it's way into the yearbook for us all to remember years back at some reunion, all gray-haired and crazy like Grandma and Grandpa.

"It's this thing about her that makes her really different."

"Wow. Pretty general statement there, Arnold."

"No, I mean it. You know how you were always asking me how I could always look on the bright side of everything?"

"Yeah..."

"It's kind of like that. Everyone has a bright side, and I KNEW Helga did." I looked down at the picture again, focusing on the one from our elementary years. I found myself staring at the picture, realizing that while Gerald and I were looking at the camera faking a smile though I thought Helga was behind me trying to make me look bad, there was something about the look on Helga's face that was genuine. "So that was what I was always searching for. And even though she rarely showed it, she did sometimes. And I liked that part in her so much."

"She was nice with you?"  
>"Gerald, you know that."<p>

"Barely."

"Well she was, Gerald. And maybe in some weird unknown way, I was subconsciously being dense in denial to my feelings towards her. You know? Kind of like how she was mean to me to hide hers?"

"That's a pretty bold statement, man."

"Well, you always said I was a bold kid, didn't you?" I grinned and he chuckled quietly while nodding his head and crunching on a Cheeto.

"That I did, Arnold. And bold may have been an understatement."

* * *

><p>Switching gears to being... romantic-like with Helga proved to be a lot harder than I had initially imagined it to be. Sure, I had thought about it many times, and it isn't like we hadn't kissed, or hugged or anything like that, but making that transition in your head from bully to, what I had gotten out of it, girlfriend was a lot harder than expected.<p>

"So I bet Geraldo had a kick out of your story, huh?" She asked as I shrugged, my hands in my pockets while we walked down the street.

"You can't even imagine."

"Oh, I'm pretty sure I can." she laughed before clearing her throat. "Man," she started sounding a lot like Gerald, "Helga G. Pataki? Mmm mm MM you must be out of your mind."

"That's pretty good!" I said mid-laugh.

"You forget that impressions is what I do best."

"Next to writing."

She quickly became quiet and nodded her head once before continuing walking beside me. Noticing the change in demeanor instantly, I reached out to grab her hand.

"You don't think so?"

"I guess I do. But my writing has... dwindled."

"What do you mean?"

"I haven't written for a while now, Arnold."

I furrowed my brows in confusion.

"Why not? You were always writing in High School-"

"I just can't finish anything. I start all these big projects, and I can't even finish them."

"What about your poems?"

She seemed to find the memory hilarious.

"Right. My _poems_."

"You didn't like them?"

"It was a hobby. It was a way to deal with all the shit life handed to me on a piece of toilet paper."

"Life will always be full of...that... but it doesn't mean you give up."

Helga stopped walking and pulled her hand away from mine to cross her arms with a scowl.

"Who said I gave up, PAL?"

"Nobody. I'm just saying that I thought-"

"Well you thought WRONG, Arn_oldo_."

"About what?" I found my voice growing stronger, but not angrier. I felt more hurt than anything. "Wrong about the writing? Wrong about caring about your writing? Wrong about us?"

We paused to let the sounds of cars, children and murming from all around us fill the air. Underneath all the other sounds came the quiet mumble of Helga' s counting, and I let her reach to ten before continuing.

"I just..." I shrugged and looked down at my feet. "I care about your best interest."

"You do?"

"Yeah."

A slow smile spread across Helga's face and she reached out for my hand once again, lacing her fingers with mine.

"I'm sorry, Arnold. I just... sometimes I... Its really hard for me to talk about my writing. It used to be only a personal thing-"

"It still can be." I cut in as we began to walk again. "You don't have to share it."

"But one day I really want to. I want to be able to publish my poems or to become a bestseller and travel the world. See people, meet people, do things and try crazy things that one day I'm pretty sure I'll regret, but-"

"Experience the world." we both said in unison, grins wide on our faces.

"I guess that's why you went off to be a pilot, huh?"

I shrugged as I glanced down to our hands before looking forward again.

"Not entirely."

"Your parents?" she asked with clear caution and I shook my head.

"They were part of it, but I don't know if I'd ever even find them. I mean, they never came back, so what says I will?"

"I had wondered the same thing..." Helga mumbled and I looked to her.

"You did? Why?"

"Well, when you told me your plans, I thought about it. And maybe that's why I became such a hard ass the last few months of school, but it made me mad. That you would go out and risk your life to find your parents and leave us all behind without you. But I was just being selfish."

"The decision was a hard one to make. There were a lot of reasons why I didn't want to go so far away. I had thought about a lot of other things to be, first off. But no matter the other career choices I considered, I always managed to come back to flying and traveling the world the way my parents did. Create my own adventures and write in my own journal to pass down to my child one day the way my father, in some form or another, did for me."

"Do you read it a lot, Arnold? The journal?"

I nodded and chewed on my lip for a moment.

"Yeah. I kind of bring it with me everywhere. I just, don't want to lose it. And in the back it has-"

"That map. Yeah, I remember you sounding so excited about it, and everyone didn't understand exactly why, because it was just a map. I guess I always knew that you would go off in search of them, I guess I just always... a little part of me kinda hoped that-" She stopped talking abruptly and I looked around trying to find the thing that must have stopped her mid-sentence. Finding nothing, I looked to her.

"Hoped that what, Helga?"

"Nothing. Nothing." she replied instantaneously.

"No you were going to say something."

"No, I wasn't. Drop it."

Up ahead I caught sight of the movie theater and the board above boasting of big name movie stars in little known films. According to Helga's advice, I dropped the subject, but kept the thought locked in my head.

_I'll ask later. _

_I'll ask later. _

But I forgot midway through the movie and found myself enjoying it in the presence of the girl I had such a long and complicated life with. Every moment of my life was full of Helga. Each memory I held could somehow be traced back to her in even the smallest ways. The breakup with one of my girlfriends, she was one of the first people next to Gerald who made me smile again, even if it was just by picking on me or saying the most absurd things. And then there was THE memory. The memory that trumped them all, even the crazy confession on top of the FTi roof still remained to be in that hallway the day I decided to tell everyone just where I was going and Helga was so supportive , and it made me so confused. She cared. She really did, and she wanted to tell me, but couldn't.

By the time the movie was over, I found myself missing the entire ending.

"Pretty good, huh? I'll admit, the trailer had me pretty skeptical, but the ending, that was killer."

"Y-yeah. Definitely."

"You weren't watching."

"I was watching."

"You weren't."

"I was."

"So what happened in the ending, huh?"

"I wasn't watching." I smiled an innocent smile and she leaned over to kiss me quickly.

"Sorry... I uh..."

"You realize you don't have to apologize for kissing me, right?"

We were both blushing pretty hard at the knowledge of that, and I cleared my throat quietly.

"It's just... different."

I rubbed the back of my neck and nodded.

"Different is a very good description of it, huh?"

"But not a bad different."

"Definitely not a bad different."

"Guess I'm just used to being the bully and laughing at that head of yours." She chuckled and bumped me as we began walking to her hotel while the sun faded into the horizon.

"It's weird," she continued, "I had planned on avoiding you like the black plague when I got home. That's why I was in Salfry anyways."

"And weird that I managed to just end up there."

"And end up in that store."

"And bump into you."

She rolled her eyes.

"You're always doing that. What's with it?"

"Not like I PLAN on it, Helga."

"I think you do. You have a plan in that weird-shaped head of yours, don't you."

"Oh, you'd better believe it."

She slid her door key through the slider to open the back door of the hotel and we quietly walked in, changing our talking to a low whisper as we continued our conversation.

"And what exactly would that plan be?" Helga inquired as we made our way to her room, her sliding the key once again while our hands were still locked together in a tight grip.

"You'll have to wait and see, won't you?" I replied, while she pulled me into her room and I closed the door behind me.

We stood together just then in the little hallway by the bathroom before entering the main part of her very lived in hotel room. Out of my peripheral vision I noticed her bed was no longer disheveled, the maid must have already visited because the remote for the television lay on top of the television set.

"Arnold?" She murmured as we stood just in the little hallway behind the closed door.

"Yes, Helga?"

"We only have one day left..." she whispered and I swallowed the lump that had grown solid in my throat.

Her eyes were searching mine, and it didn't take too long before we found ourselves leaning in to close the gap that had been between us for so long.

Her kisses were hard, they were full of the things Helga had hidden for so long. She was full of this passion she rarely let show to the world, she cared deeply about things though she didn't care to tell anyone about it. In her every brush of her lips against mine, I felt all the things she never had to tell me. I found in her the answers to the reasons why she was so mean, and why she was there through every memory. I discovered the pain it must have felt for her to watch me date others for so long and never pay that attention to her, but how could I? I was hiding my own feelings. Things had never been the same since she had first kissed me, and even now as we made our way to her bed mid-kiss, they never would be. I didn't know what was going to happen tomorrow or the day after when we boarded our planes, but I knew that Helga G. Pataki would always be there, even if she wasn't there in person. Her influence on me, her every nickname and every soft word and hard push and gentle kiss would be with me through every flight and every mission I may take in my future.

I could only hope that I would have such an influence on her.

* * *

><p>"A lot building up there from the years..." Helga quietly said as we sat on the bed after our heavy 'make-out session.' We may have been hormonal young adults, but it wasn't about a sex aspect between us. I still don't think that's what either of us were headed for, which may have been the reason why we were sitting on her bed with the television still off, the lamp on, clothes on, and talking about what it was that led to where we were.<p>

"Do you remember that party I had in 9th grade?"

"Yeah, we talked about it at your house the other day."

"But do you... remember?"

"What?"

I smirked and rested my chin on her head.

"Do you remember towards the end of the party, when you stayed after and-"

"You leaned in to kiss me but you chickened out?"

"I didn't chicken out, Helga."

"You leaned in, and then pulled away. I do believe by definition that is chickening out when kissing a girl."

I rubbed my neck for a moment and blushed.

"So I chickened out."

"Why?"

"Why did you stay so long?"

She shook her head almost embarrassed and looked to the wall.

"Because."

"Because...?"

"I wanted to. I wanted to talk to you"

"But why?"

"Arnold," she turned around to face me, grabbing my hand and playing with it absentmindedly. "do you know how many times I tried to tell you that I loved you?"

"You did once."

"Besides that time."

I shrugged and continued watching her as she held my hand.

"A lot. Every chance I had I wanted to tell you, but I-"

"Chickened out. You tried and stopped yourself or made excuses, and by definition, I do believe that is chickening out when telling a guy you love them."

She rolled her eyes and pushed me playfully as I pulled her in to hug her.

"I thought you'd laugh at me. Or hate me. Or... I don't know. Reject me the way everyone else has."

"Not everyone..."

"Yes everyone. I tried to get dates too, you know. When you started dating 'whatever-her-face' Angela, I tried getting a guy to date me too. And you know what he said?"

"Hmm?"

"Pluck the uni-brow and then we'll talk." she frowned and I mirrored her expression. "Needless to say I beat the living daylights out of him, but it still hurt. And that was when I knew you'd laugh at me if I told you the truth."

"Did I?"

"Well the first time you seemed a little shocked-"

"I was nine, Helga. That's a lot to take in when you're nine. And you didn't even let me think about it. Which, I did a long time after the fact, but at that moment you didn't let it sink in."

"I guess. I just... it was a spur of the moment thing. And I kind of hated myself for it afterwards, but it was the only thing I had to myself that I could control. I could control what I said to you and how I made you feel, but if I were to tell you my true feelings, well, I wouldn't be able to control you like that."

"It was about control?" I asked a little hurt.

"No, no, no. It was about security. You couldn't hurt me the way I knew it would, you couldn't devastate me so entirely if I didn't let it be known. It was my best kept secret. It was my thing, and I was afraid to let you in on it. I was afraid to let you know just how much I... adored you."

"Should I find this creepy?"

She shrugged and leaned against me again.

"If you want to, I guess." She mumbled into my shoulder.

"Well I don't. I think it's flattering."

"Really?"

I grinned and nodded.

"Hey, what time is it?" I asked, realizing that the sun had completely vanished from the window.

Helga turned her head to look over at the clock that sit on the end table.

"Looks to be about 10:13."

"Which means I gotta go..." I mumbled in mild disappointment. "Tomorrow?" I asked as I stood up and made my way to the door.

"Doi." Helga replied before leaning in to kiss me goodnight. "See you in the AM football-head." she said with a smile.

As I walked out of the hotel, I found myself worrying about what was to come. I felt so happy, and clearly Helga did too. What would happen when we left? When the shock of 'leaving' really sunk in? I wasn't ready to let it happen, I wasn't ready to let all of what we had put off our entire lives be forgotten.

But when you're so far away from someone you care about so much, how do you hang on?


	6. Day Five

_**Go team! We're almost at the last chapter! **_

_**I had a really tough time with this chapter, for some reason, so I hope it turned out okay and that you all enjoy it :) **_

__**_As always, i do not own any of this, Hey Arnold! belongs to Craig Bartlett :) _**

****_**R&R! Lemme know what you guys think! **_

__**_xoxo_**

**_Polkahotness_**

* * *

><p>"Hey Arnold! Hey Arnold! Hey Arnold! Hey Arn-"<p>

I hit the old alarm I'd had since I was a kid and rested my right forearm over my eyes. My pull-calendar sat on my shelf next to old pictures and my still open yearbook from yesterday.

I knew what it said. I knew the date of today, and I knew the time.

It was about nine o'clock in the morning. The smell of sausage and bacon and eggs filled the boarding house air, even all the way up in my room, and I sighed heavily at the feeling that was slowly overtaking my body: dread. While nighttime seemed far away, and tomorrow even further, I anxiously felt the events of tomorrow creeping up on me with each second that passed.

Helga and I had discovered our planes left within fifteen minutes of one another and decided to meet there and load the planes together.

It was funny how so much could change in so little time.

It had been five days, and yet, it had been 20 years. It had been 20 years of us together, knowing each other, being together, just together.

"Hey Shortman? You awake up there? Well I'm coming in, ready or not!" Grandpa said as he made his way up the stairs to my room. "Arnold? You awake? Pookie made breakfast..."

He flipped on the light switch and walked over to me as I remained on the bed with my eyes still covered by my arm.

"You okay, Arnold?" he asked quietly and I shrugged.

"Not really, Grandpa."

"Well, you wanna talk about it, or would you rather not this time?"

I sat up and looked over at my calendar, pulling off the date that read "January 13th" to reveal the large 14 below. Holding the paper in my hands, I focused on the big bold lettering as I spoke.

"Grandpa, remember when you told me the story about how you and Grandma met?"

"Sure, Arnold."

"Did you ever... have to fight to be with her?"

"Like hurting someone? Well there was this one time-"

"No, no. Not like that. Like... work really hard to stay with her even though the world was trying to pull you two away from each other?"

He sat quietly beside me on my bed and thought.

"Hmm... I don't think so, Arnold. Pookie and I had always stayed here in Hillwood."

"You didn't go off to college?"

"I was in the war, you remember that, right Shortman? Those were some times, I tell you."

"How did you stay with Grandma when she was so far away?"

He laughed quietly.

"You know that weird video recorder thing Pookie brought home before you left for Florida?"

"The web-cam?"  
>"Sure, that thing. I didn't want to use it. I'm not one for those fancy doo-hickies you kids are so attached to. But I will admit that it sure has made things easier, don't you think?"<p>

"I guess so, why?"

"Well Arnold, when I was off in the war, Pookie was very mad. She didn't like the idea that we wouldn't see each other, and we weren't even sure how it would work out. But I tell you, if it's meant to be, or if you care enough, you make it work."

"By...?"

"I wrote her as often as I could, Shortman. I told her about all the crazy things we'd do and the scary things we encountered while away. And when I finally came home, Pookie was the first one to meet me. She read every letter of course. She still has them, I think."

"So it can work."

"Why of course it can work, you silly boy! If you love someone, why would you just give up, hmm?"

I crumpled the paper from yesterday in my hand and tossed it in the corner to the trashcan that sat there.

"This wouldn't happen to be about that girl you've been spending so much time with the passed few days would it? The one from your little elementary class with the big bow and the one eyebrow?"

I smirked and nodded my head.

"That's her."

"I always knew you'd figure it out one day, Arnold. Didn't think it'd take you so darn long, but you figured it out. That's only half the battle though, Shortman. The feeling is one thing. It's what you do about it that matters in the end. And in the end, if you try your hardest and give it all you got, it still may not work out, Arnold." He stood up and looked at me seriously. "In the end, it all boils down to if you're meant to be together, well... then you're meant to be together." He smiled and made his way to the door. "Now get yourself dressed! Food is getting cold and we'd all like to see you too before you run off for the rest of the day."

It didn't take me long to get up from my bed and throw clothes on to join everyone downstairs for breakfast. It may have been my last full day in Hillwood, but it sure wasn't going to be wasted by thinking about tomorrow. I was planning to waste it in style.

* * *

><p>"Kokoshka. Pass the sausage."<p>

"I'm not done with it, Ernie."

"You're gonna eat the whole thing." Mr. Potts complained while tapping his fork against his plate.

"Oskar. Leave some for Arnold!" Mr. Hyunh shouted while waving his fork in the air.

Grandma scooped a large portion of scrambled eggs onto my plate and patted my shoulder.

"Going out today, grasshopper?"

I forked up some of the eggs and shoved them in my mouth.

"Planning on it."

"Will you be joining us for the hunt tonight?"

"The what?"

Grandpa chewed loudly on his food while grabbing the sausage plate from Oskar.

"Pookie! That was last week! And after you broke the lamp in search for that fox, we aren't going on another hunt." He looked over to me with a smile. "We're playing poker."

"I'll get the chips!" Grandma said while running out of the dining room, Grandpa calling out after her.

"Nine, Pookie! It's at nine, you crazy old coot!"

"Poker, huh?" I asked after Grandpa gave up and continued to eat his breakfast.

Mr. Potts nodded his head.

"And I'm taking you all for everything you have!"

"I don't know if I'll be there..."

"Arnold, you have to!" Oskar whined as Suzie nodded while sitting beside her.

"We've barely seen you on your whole break here! Please, Arnold? You never know, I may DIE before you come home in some horrific skiing accident."

"You're going to go skiing?"

"Well, I don't know but I could and It'd be horrific and you'd never get to play poker with your dear, beloved and much adored Grandfather, the one and only, me; Phil!"

"Okay, okay, Grandpa I'll be here. Nine?"

"Eight thirty if you want food. I'm sure Kokoshka will hog it all before we can even smell it." Mr. Potts said while glaring at Oskar from across the way.

"Will not!" He retorted.

"How about I just show up at nine?"

"Sounds like a plan, Shortman." Grandpa said before offering me some more food.

"I think I'm going to head out. I told Helga I'd meet her at ten and it's almost ten thirty now..."

"Helga, huh? Thought she hated you?" Mr. Potts asked.

"No, Ernie. Helga was here. Two days ago, right?" Mr. Hyunh asked and I stood up, tossing my plates in the sink in the other room, before returning to the dining room to grab my coat that I had draped around my chair.

"Yep. I'll see you all at nine!" I yelled out behind me before running out the door in search for Helga.

* * *

><p>"Nine o'clock, huh?"<p>

"Yeah... I haven't really seen them this week and-"

"Hey, I get it. You wanna see them. No sweat."

"But... we're leaving tomorrow."

"So? We have the whole bus ride to the airport." she shrugged her shoulders and fluffed the pillow under her head as she lay on the bed, me sitting on the floor.

"Helga, shouldn't we talk about what's going to happen?"

"Talk about what?" Helga asked, obliviously.

"You know what I'm talking about."

She looked up at the ceiling and moved her arms to rest under her head.

"What about it?"

"What are we going to do?"

"Talk. We live in the twenty-first century you know. It isn't impossible to have relationships. You do it with Gerald, don't you?" she turned her head to look at me with a grin.

"Yeah, but I'm not dating Gerald."

"Spring break will be here before you know it." Climbing off the bed to sit beside me on the floor she pushed my shoulder. "Lighten up. It's gonna be okay."

"Why are you so nonchalant about all of this?"

"Because it'll work out. Doi."

"But what if it doesn't?"

"Since when were you the Debbie Downer and I turned into frickin' happy-peppy, 'look, it's so bright and perfect outside' Eugene, huh? C'mON. Snap out of it, okay?"

I shrugged.

"And besides," she said while resting her head on my shoulder, "we waited this long before getting together, didn't we? This should be a piece of cake."

I smiled and kissed the top of her head.

"Whatever you say, Helga."

"So you really just want to stay here all day and watch movies? I thought you'd have some big planned outing or something."

"Haven't we been doing that all week? I thought just relaxing would be nice." Smiling, I reached for the remote and turned on the television, soon flipping through the channels to find the 'pay per view' channel.

"You know I'm paying for this room in cash, right?"

"I can pay for the movies, Helga. After all, this was my idea."

"Where do you work in Florida anyway?" She asked as I read the synopsis to a movie that looked intriguing.

"That club Ray and I play at sometimes has been paying us to do a Jazz night twice a week. I didn't tell you that?" Helga shook her head and I set the remote on my leg as I further explained. "It's pretty fun. I never would have thought that I'd be getting paid to play my piano. It isn't a whole lot of money, but I don't really go out and buy things, and since it's really nice out most of the time, Ray and I walk most places or ride the bus."

"So you have a meal plan and all that?"

"Yeah. One of the scholarships I found paid for meal plans all throughout college, so luckily I don't have to survive on a Ramen noodle diet like a lot of my classmates."

"You excited to go back to school?" Helga asked while reaching for a bag of pork rinds that had been sitting on the side table.

"Kind of. I'm excited to see Ray again and tell him about what's been going on here. He's planning on coming here for Spring Break this year, so you'll meet him then."

"Has Tall Hair Boy met him yet? On your video chat or whatever?"

I reached in her bag and stole a pork rind, tossing it in my mouth and nodding while chewing.

"A few times," I replied after swallowing. "but not for much more than a few minutes. I think Gerald will like him, but they don't have a lot in common."

"Neither do you and him."

I thought about this. Helga was pretty spot-on. When you looked at Gerald and I as separate people and not best friends, there really weren't a lot of things that we had in common. Our music tastes were very far from similar and while I liked sports, it wasn't something I was passionate about like Gerald was. I guess since we had been together so long, we just clicked and didn't need to rely on common interests to be practically like brothers. He was there for me and I was there for him, which was all we really needed.

Ray and I however, had a lot in common. He loved soft rock and jazz the way I did. He enjoyed the television shows I watched and would sit and talk for hours about the independent films that Gerald often slandered when watching just ten minutes of it.

In some ways, this knowledge scared me in preparation for Gerald and Ray meeting for the first time, but I knew Gerald like the back of my hand and I knew that nothing in the world could hurt the friendship we had; especially my roommate. I was sure we'd all get along fine.

Helga thought differently.

"My money is on Gerald becoming the jealous girlfriend."

"Thought that was your job?"

"Is Ray a woman?"

I laughed and shook my head.

"Then we're fine. I'm sure the guy is great. I would just watch out. Geraldo may flip on you. There is a psycho meltdown waiting underneath all that hair of his."

"I doubt it, but we'll see, won't we?"

Nodding her head, a small smile was creeping on Helga's face.

"And take bets of course..."

"Helga..."

"Okay, okay. No bets. But I'm definitely going to be gloating when I'm right."

"You're on."

The next few hours became an "Evil Twin" marathon in the small hotel room. And naturally, as each movie passed and we continued on to the next in the series, the sun outside started to hide and the clock grew nearer to nine with each minute.

"You hungry, Arnold?" Helga asked as she paused the movie and stood up. "We could go out to eat or something."

I smiled and nodded my head.

"I'd really like that, Helga."

Tossing me my coat and pulling hers on, Helga lead the way to a familiar restaurant we had grown up by; Chez Paris.

"You sure you got this, Arnold?"

I chuckled and nodded my head.

"We're fine."

"Cause I can get it, really."

"Helga- just let me pay, okay?" It isn't like I haven't before.

Helga picked up the menu and started to look at it, tapping her fingernails against the lamination. I watched as her tick continued, and I looked at her behind the menu. There was something familiar about it, and upon further thinking, I remember of the one time we had been here together.

But it didn't satisfy the thought that I was forgetting something.

"So what are you gonna get?"

I shrugged.

"No clue. You?"

"Whatever that thing is." She pointed to a series of jumbled french words and I laughed.

"You know, this one time in the fourth grade, I came here with this girl... She tried to pronounce all these things and just... wasn't very good at it." I chuckled at the memory, while Helga perked up a bit.

"Oh yeah? Who was that? Lila?"

"No, her name was Cecile. Well... kind of."

She laced her fingers together and rested her chin on top of them.

"Tell me about her."

"Are we ready to order?" The waiter asked in an overly fake french accent and a less than enthused expression on his face.

"I'll have this thing," Helga said while pointing to the menu.

"Ahh... tres bien. And for your monsieur?"

"I'll have the same thing." I smiled and and handed him both of our menus while taking a sip of my water.

"So."

"So?"

"What about this Cecile girl?"

"It really isn't important, Helga. It was a long time ago."

She shook her head with a tiny laugh and took a large gulp from her water glass.

"Was she pretty?"

I sighed and nodded slowly.

"She was. We were nine though Helga. We can drop it, right?"

She shook her head, the smile still plastered on her face.

"I'm just really curious about her, now."

"But why? She is just a girl I had dinner with and then never saw again."

"Oh I doubt that..." she muttered under her breath.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You just never know, Arnold."

"I'm pretty sure I'd know."

She laughed outright and shook her head before gesturing for a nearby waiter to fill her now empty water glass.

"Why aren't you asking more question about what I thought last time I came here with you, hmm?"

"Probably because I was there, doi. I don't need to know anything else about that night."

"You aren't curious to know what I was thinking?"

"You thought I was being dumb and not myself."

"I did, huh?"

"Uh... yeah."

"Well you're wrong." I stated, smugly.

"And how do you figure?"

Approaching with two silver platters covered with matching silver covers, the waiter gently placed each in front of us.

"Anything else I may get for you madam? Monsieur?"

"No thank you." I replied with a smile, and he pivoted quickly to walk back to his other tables.

After placing the napkin on my lap, I pulled out my phone, hitting a random button to get the screen to light up.

7:49 pm.

Almost 8.

Which is almost 9.

"What are you looking at?" Helga asked mid-chew.

"Just checking the time."

"You're really nervous, aren't you?"

"About...?" I asked while cutting off a piece of my food and biting it off of my fork.

"About going back to Florida and me going back to Chicago."

I focused on chewing the food that had suddenly gone rather dry and reached out for my water glass.

"Why do you say that?"

She set down her fork and gave me a look of disbelief.

"I guess I am," I caved. "Why?"

"Well," she took another bite and soon set her utensils down to reach up and fiddle with the band that kept her hair in it's pony-tail. "Remember how you said you never saw Cecile again?"

"Are we really back to this? I don't even think about her anymore."

She pulled off her hat and set it in her lap with a defeated expression looking back at me.

"You don't...?"

"Well... not really. I mean... I USED to."

"Well what did you think?"

"Why do you care?"

She pulled out her hair band and let down her long, blonde locks while mussing the strands of hair in every direction.

"See? Don't you SEE?" she said rather loudly, some eyes straying to our table.

"Helga, what are you talking about?"

She pulled her bangs over her left eye and pointed.

"I'm her!"

"What?"

"I'm Cecile!" she nearly shouted and I dropped my fork onto my plate, sounding a loud clatter.

"You... you're... you're... WHO?" I asked, equally as loud.

"You heard me, Arnoldo. I'm her. I'm the one who you had dinner with!"

"That's impossible..."

"I left my red shoe here when I left. Tall Hair Boy ran off with your ACTUAL pen-pal."

"No, no, no..."

"You told me that we'd always have Chez Paris..."

"But... Helga..."

"What?"

"Wow." I stated while slowly shaking my head, the eyes that were on us soon returning to their own dinner companions and the food that sat in front of them.

"So, it was always you."

"You better believe it." She said while pulling her hair from her face to put it back up in it's pony tail.

"Don't. I like it like that."

"You... you do?"

I nodded and smiled as she blushed while our waiter approached us once again.

"Is everything all right here?"

"Yeah... yeah we're fine." I said while shaking my head and grinning. "Never better."

* * *

><p>Helga fiddled with the hat I asked her not to put back on as we walked down the sidewalk to her hotel. We had made one hell of a scene, sure enough for that restaurant to truly never want to serve us again. It was just such a shock. And the more I thought about it, the more it made a lot of sense, all the things she had said that night could have been interpreted as pointing to her. And if it was really Helga... which it was... then that meant she really HAD tried on many occasions tried to tell me.<p>

Maybe I really had been dense.

"So what ever happened to your bow?"

"My bow?"  
>"Yeah," I said as I reached out to take her free hand, "the one that you always used to wear on top of your head."<p>

"I'm gonna be twenty in March, Arnold. Obviously I'm not going to wear a pink BOW around town all the time."

"I know you don't wear it, Helga. You haven't since elementary school."

She smirked and rolled her eyes while focusing ahead.

"Yeah... sure I did."

"You mean, you wore it after elementary school?"

"What do you think the hat was for, Hair Boy?"

I shrugged.

"So what did you do with it?"

"After graduation, I threw it away."

"But why?"

"When I left," She started, her tone softening slightly, "I made the decision to let myself go. The old me that is. And that was when I told Phoebe that I didn't want to talk to you ever again because I needed to move on."

"Why would you think that?"

"Because since I was in Urban Tots with you I had spent my entire life, like eighteen YEARS or something, pining after you and you didn't even notice. So I had to give up."

"What made you show up at my door then? After we ran into each other in Salfry?"

We grew near to her hotel and we stopped just outside the door.

"If you really love someone..." she said carefully, "you don't just give up."

"But you had."

"I don't think I ever really did." She said with a smile. "And I doubt I ever really will."

The stars were very bright, even above the city's bright lights. And as Helga and I stood under them, everything lay out on the table. Not a real table of course, but we had let out all we had been holding. Helga knew how I had always felt, how I had grown to love her. And I had finally discovered just why Helga had been so mean me to all those years that we wasted by never opening up to one another fully. But here we were under the stars that had shone over us so many times in Hillwood. Here we were finally owning up to the elementary school kids who had always felt something towards the other, but never knew just what it was or where it would lead.

It had led us here.

"So... I'll see you tomorrow?" Helga asked in a soft voice and I nodded my head.

"Definitely." I replied while pulling her in to kiss me once more before the day that was coming faster than we had ever expected it, showed up.

"Bus stop?"

"As always." I clarified.

"And don't be late, BUCKO. I don't want to sit all alone moping because some football-headed dweeb didn't meet me on time." She said with a smug smile and an eyebrow raised.

"Whatever you say, Helga." I managed before kissing her again and heading home for the last time this Christmas break.

As I walked in the door at exactly 9 o'clock, Poker was full in swing, and I could hear Mr. Potts already calling Oskar out for cheating. While I wasn't really in the mood for such a thing, I was happy to spend some time with my family.

_Maybe it'll take my mind off of things_ I thought to myself.

But as I played and laughed and enjoyed myself, I found that the thoughts never went away.

The what-if's danced around my head menacingly and it took all I had to shoot them down with what Helga had managed to point out.

I never thought I'd see Cecile again. But I had. Every day since then I had, and I hadn't even known it. Things work out like that sometimes.

And since it had happened to us so many times before, what made me think it couldn't happen again?

We HAD run into each other in Salfry by accident.

We HAD seen each other again even after Helga diliberatly tried to avoid me.

I HAD seen Cecile again just like I thought I never had or would.

But somehow, we always managed to happen. Together.

And that thought was what I focused on while lying in bed, fighting all of the what-ifs.

_In the end, it all boils down to if you're meant to be together, well... then you're meant to be together _Grandpa had said this morning.

And I just had to believe that if we were meant to be... then this whole thing would somehow work out.


	7. When Airports Become Ants

_**Sorry for this being so short! BUuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut do not fret! A companion is in the works being thought up and I am excited to begin on it! **_

**_Be sure to R&R and let me know what you think and what you think the companion may be about :) I'll give you a hint at the end of this chapter :) _**

_**Anyways, as always, I own nothing, Craig Bartlett does :) **_

**_Hope you enjoy! _**

_**xoxo**_

**_Polkahotness_**

* * *

><p>Five o'clock was an extremely early time to get up. I dragged through the boarding house, eyes half-lidded from the sleep that still threatened to take over, despite all my moving about. Downstairs, the boarders awaited at the kitchen table; the smell of freshly made pancakes filling the air and mixing with the smell of bacon and Grandma's famous scrambled eggs. Before me lay a variety of foods all to comfort the boarders of my absence. I knew this, because that was what Grandma always did when somebody left- the food gave us a chance to talk to each other one last time and temporarily forget about the future events soon to take place.<p>

However, I found the meal to comfort me more than the boarders. They laughed, and talked as a usual dining experience happened in the house while I sat staring at my food.

It held little comfort for me.

After eating, I roamed to my room and finished packing the remainder of my toiletries that I had used to get ready. Pulling on my jacket, I wandered downstairs again with bags in hand to see the boarders smiling and waiting at the door. Both Grandma and Grandpa donned their robes at the door and smiled warmly, despite the cold that awaited me outside.

"Guess this is it, huh Shortman?" Grandpa asked.

"Of course it isn't. I'll be back for spring break. You know that."

"Well... I know... but I'll still miss ya, Arnold."

I set my bags down and hugged him tight, feeling small and childish once more.

"I'll miss you too, Grandpa."

And I would. Though a part of me felt ashamed that there was someone else I may miss more.

* * *

><p>I stood alone by the bus stop sign.<p>

The winter weather wasn't ready to give up just yet, and small snowflakes fell from the sky to gently lay on my shoulders and heavy bags.

"Hey football-head," I heard a voice calling out from behind me, "want some company?"

I turned around and smiled with a small nod and set my bags down.

"I'd like that."

She walked towards me and quickly kissed my cheek.

"This is it. You ready?"

"Define ready."

"Up to heading on home?"

"But I already AM home."

She sighed and shrugged.

"Time to go somewhere else, I guess."

The bus' loud rumble traveled to our ears from up the street and we picked up our bags full of our clothes and other such useless things. The bus' sign read that of the airport terminal and as we sat in the back of the bus silent, each bump and twist and turn of the driver was that of another twist and turn in life. Another obstacle we were about to overcome.

Love gained and love lost.

"Hey Arnold?"

"Yeah Helga?"

"When is your plane leaving again?"

"Seven. Yours is at seven fifteen, right?"

She nodded and stared out the window.

"You alright?"

"I'm fine, Arnold."

"You don't seem okay."

"How do you want me to act, hair boy? Want me to smile? Jump for joy? Sing some happy song at the top of my lungs on this bus at six in the morning like some Snow-White loving, housework doing, blowhard blue-bird?"

I looked at her expressionless and reached out to grab her hand. Though we must have held hands dozens of times in the past few days, my gesture seemed to startle her, and her eyes grew almost a size larger.

"I want you to be yourself. Like you have been the past few days. I want you to act how you feel."

"Which I am. I don't like this, Arnold."

"I don't either."

"What's gonna happen?"

I squeezed her hand and faced forward, watching as the bus driver pushed on the pedal once we hit the freeway and leaned back slightly on his chair.

"I don't know. But I thought a lot about what you said last night. About how it's all going to be okay because you don't give up on something you love? And... and you're right. It'll be okay. Whatever is meant to be is meant to be."

"I'm not gonna lie, I don't like the sound of that right now."

"Why?"

"Because right now, I just want you to say that we're both going to stay here. That this bus is going to break down, and we'll be stranded just outside of Hillwood until we're old and gray."

"But, hypothetically, how would we do all we long to do? How would we get our degrees? How would you publish your work, and how would we travel the world, hmm?"

"There are ways."

"Where would you live?"

"Well.. I don't know..."

"I mean, you could live in the boarding house, but I'm not going to lie when I say they're an... interesting group of people and take a lot of patience to get a long with them."

"I could do it-"

"And I mean, we're 20. We have so much to experience yet. We aren't even legal to buy alcohol more or less get careers without degrees."

"We could... I could go out..." she tried, struggling for the right sentence or at least a sentence that sounded right. "You're right, Arnold."

I wrapped my right arm around her shoulder and kissed the top of her head.

"We'll be okay."

"You sound like Eugene."

"And you did last night. What happened?"

"I realized that after waiting my entire life to get you to see me the way I see you, I'm losing it all in the same instant. I realized that maybe the world doesn't want us to be together."

I looked at her then with the most sincere look I could muster.

"And maybe it does. But who said the world is just going to hand it to us?"

"Why DO you always have to look on the bright side?"

I smiled, remembering when Gerald had asked me the exact same thing so many years ago.

"Somebody has to."

* * *

><p>The airport, as usual, was crowded with every kind of person.<p>

But all the people seemed to have one thing in common: they were all in a hurry.

In a hurry to pick people up.

In a hurry to get on their planes.

In a hurry to get home.

In a hurry to buy food.

In a hurry to check baggage.

Everywhere you went there were hurried people trying desperately to get to wherever their destination may be. And in the middle of the bustling world that swam around us lay Helga and I. As we stood in the middle of the hurry, we found that the only thing we were in a hurry for, was for spring break to come.

As we checked in our baggage and wandered aimlessly around the airport, I found myself anxiously checking my phone for the time.

6:15

6:27

6:30

6:33

6-

"Would you stop already? Criminy! You're making me nervous."

"Sorry." I said while shoving my phone in my pocket.

"It's fine." She turned her head to look at the small shop that was beside a coffee shop and nodded her head towards it. "Wanna look around? We have a half hour."

"So you were checking too?"

"There's clocks everywhere. I don't need my phone to tell me how soon you gotta leave-" she cut herself short and grabbed my hand. "C'mon. We don't have all day."

She was right.

We didn't.

The shop had the usual for any plane rider to hope for. Magazines for every kind of reader; even the weird reader... There were key-chains that had the name of our state plastered all over them. Sweaters and sweatshirts of every size were littered all around the store next to teddy bears and neck pillows and candies of every sort. I picked up a magazine focusing on new music and shrugged when Helga glanced my way.

"Gotta have something to read."

"They have that sky mall bullshit in the seat pockets."

"If it's that bad, why would I want to read it?"

"What else have you got to do?"

"I could watch a movie."

She dropped the magazine she had been flipping through to her side and rested her other hand on her hip.

"Really?"

"Or music."

"And I repeat: Really?"

I rolled my eyes and took the magazine she had been looking at to investigate it myself.

"And what's this?"

"A magazine. Doi."

Shooting her a look, I opened it up and flipped through the pages quickly.

"Food?"

"What? You got a problem with food?"

"It's just... an interesting choice."

"So what's your magazine about, hmm?"

"Music."

"Don't you have an MP3 player or something for that stuff?"

I set the magazine down beside the other copies and shrugged.

"Who said I was going to buy it anyway?"

I wandered around the store glancing at the overpriced items they had to offer. Helga ventured off in a different direction to either buy the magazine she had been looking at, or to pick up some candy or something else to occupy her time while the plane took her off to Chicago.

It was weird, where we had chosen to let the world take us.

A year and a half ago I wouldn't have guessed that I would be here with Helga looking at things to keep our minds off of each other as we went in complete opposite directions of the country. I wouldn't have imagined that the passed five days would have taught me more about myself than I had ever known in my 20 years, all because of Helga.

_Helga G. Pataki _I heard Gerald say in my head and I laughed.

It was her alright. Helga G. Pataki. The girl who had thrown dirt at me in Kindergarten. The girl who had called me names since she could form sentences. The girl who had pushed and kicked and tripped and spat at since we could both remember.

But she was also the girl who had smiled at me every now and again. She was also the girl who had been there for me when I most needed someone. She was the girl who had listened, and laughed and taken my crackers all the way back in Urban Tots. She was the girl who had been THE girl, good or bad. Helga beat the rest in that department.

In fact, in every department.

Helga had-

"OOF!"

"UGH!"

The floor was hard beneath me and I rubbed my head, and picked up my hat as it lay on the ground.

"Sorry-"

"No it's my fault."

She stood up and offered her hand.

"Funny. Usually you're the one doing this, aren't you Arnoldo?"

I took her hand and stood up, brushing off my pants and smiling.

"It's a nice change in pace."

"Yeah, well don't get used to it bucko. I ain't some happy hands helper or some bull like that."

"Whatever you say, Helga."

"I do say."

"Know what I say?"

She leaned in a little closer and rested her arms around my neck.

"And what's that?"

"I say-" the buzz in my pocket stopped my train of thought and as Helga dropped her arms from me, I dug my phone out of my pocket.

ALARM, it read, 6:50 am PLANE

My smile dropped and Helga new what was happening.

She knew the time.

After all, you didn't need a phone to tell you what time it was.

It was time to go. And that was all that needed to be said.

* * *

><p>Gate 37. That was where my plane was waiting for me and the rest of it's passengers.<p>

Helga stood beside me, her hand tightly woven with mine as I watched the passengers load the plane.

"This is it."

"You said that at the bus stop."

"But this is... REALLY it."

"I guess so."

She pulled me to face her and reached out to touch my cheeks.

"I'll miss you."

"You know I'll miss you too."

She smiled then and kissed me hard, her lips crushing mine for an instant before pulling back with tears in her eyes.

"I'm such a sap. Look at me," she said while wiping her tears with her sleeve, "crying because I won't see you for a few months."

"You're not a sap." I said, my eyes welling up as well.

"Now..." she started, "Now that we're standing here, we have minutes, how is this going to work?"

"What?"

"Us. How will it work."

"Remember how last night you were telling me it would? It will. We just have to believe that."

"But if it doesn't," she said quietly while gently taking each side of my open flannel in her hands, "what then? How will we see each other? What if you find somebody prettier, somebody more perfect, somebody-"

"Helga..." I said while brushing a loose strand of her hair away from her face and resting it on her neck and resting on her shoulder. "Remember how we ran into each other by complete chance at the College Cabin in Salfry?"

She nodded her head while searching my eyes.

"Yeah. What about it?"

"A random event, complete fate or SOMETHING for that matter brought us together after growing so apart. If we're meant to be together, we'll find each other again when we least expect it. Until then, we have to just work at what we have and be positive."

The lady checking tickets eyed us as we quietly talked between ourselves and cleared her throat rather loudly.

"How can I believe that?"

"You have to, Helga. What kept you going when I didn't notice you before?" I asked quickly, knowing that the lady was soon growing impatient.

"I just... I don't KNOW," her tone was becoming hard, and I could tell that she was shutting down the way she always had when I had found in her something that she tried to hide from me. "I just DID, okay?"

"Helga..." I said while resting my forehead against hers, "We found each other once... if it's meant to be, we'll find each other again."

"Spring break?"

"Of course, we'll see each other then. And we aren't completely primitive, remember? You told me that. We can use video chat. We can text. We can call."

She was nodding her head, taking in my every word and storing it for future reference.

It would be okay. It was just a few months.

_After everything fell together... we had to hold on for just a few months until it could fall together again. _

"Excuse me, are you going to board the plane, or not? We have a schedule to keep."

I nodded my head and offered Helga a smile.

"I'll see you." I said while turning around to hand the lady waiting my ticket.

"Arnold!" Helga called out to me and ran to me to wrap her arms around me tightly.

"I love you, Arnold." she whispered to me after so many years of hiding as I held her tightly against me.

"I... I know." I finally ended with, feeling as though it wasn't what I really had wanted to say.

Probably thinking that I wasn't ready, she nodded her head almost happy that for once, I DID know. I knew her secret.

She pulled back from me and kissed me once again- longer than normal, but short enough to not agitate the lady waiting any further.

"Bye, Helga." I called out and made my way to the lady to finally hand her my ticket.

"I love you." I heard her quietly say once more as she watched me disappear into the gate entirely and onto the plane.

It was crowded, and the aisle was as usual a pain to get through. I was lucky to have a window seat- or so I had thought at the time I bought my ticket as I liked to look out at the world below me. Not today. Not now.

I took my seat and waited as the flight attendant went over the usual speech of what to do if something catastrophic happened while on the plane, and I took in the procedures as she went through them.

In front of me peeking up from the chair pocket was the Sky Mall magazine, and I reached out to push it further in and look absentmindedly out the window to the airport.

"Fasten your seat belts as we are about to take off." the flight attendant stated before taking her seat and buckling herself in.

Slowly, the plane began to move down the runway and I watched as the airport grew smaller and smaller. It was only a few moments before we picked up speed and made our way into the air to fly high above the world living on below us.

I looked down at the airport that became a tiny ant on the earth that I was just minutes before standing on.

I pulled out my MP3 player and popped the earbuds in my ears to fill my mind with gentle music. Closing the window beside me that I had once stared out in wonder, I closed my eyes and leaned back while mumbling, quietly enough so nobody else could hear, "I love you too, Helga."

* * *

><p><strong><em>Here we are! The end! What did you guys think? <em>**

**_As I said before, do not fret- a fun companion is on the way, and I just KNOW it will be barrels of laugh :) _**

**_As promised, I shall give you a fun hint as to what it will be about! Let's just say, it is Arnold coming back for spring break... with Ray in tow and while Helga isn't bothered by this... Gerald, who is ALSO in town for spring break, is. While Helga isn't bothered, she does have to fight off some confusing feelings that Ray brings about in his week-long visit in Hillwood. _**

**_Sound fun? _**

**_YAY. :) _**

**_Anyways, Hope you enjoyed this little story. R&R and lemme know your thoughts and predictions for the upcoming companion! _**


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